


Penelope and Payton Addams

by PerkyGoth14



Category: The Addams Family (1991)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-22 02:49:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2491703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One cold night has a pair of twins abandoned into the care of the Addams. The siblings, Wednesday and Pugsley, decide to raise the children as their own and join them into their subculture with their dark family values and raise the children as their own. Based on an RP with a good friend of mine based on the movie universe of the Addams Family and not from the TV Series or short-lived cartoon. My friend and I only own our OCs, everyone else so far belongs to Charles Addams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Twins

It was a bitter cold evening. A lot of people were tucked away in their nice, warm beds, some are resting by their crackling fireplaces, and some could be enjoying nice and relaxing cups of hot chocolate. However, one woman is out in the middle of the night. She is nearly freezing and is carrying a weaved basket with two infants inside who are tucked away in their new shelter.

The woman looks about and she runs behind the forest and finds a nearby malevolent home that comes off as creepy, but it would have to do for her children. The woman cried as she went to the doorstop, wiping away a nearly icicle tear in her eye and placed her children down.

She clanged the knocker a few times and did her best to scurry away and never be seen again. The woman just quietly prayed the family would take in her children and give them shelter from the currently bitter cold that was nearly winter.

The door opened after a few seconds and a really tall, silent, sickly looking man in a man's night-shirt was there. He grunted as he looked around and then looked down at the basket. He picked it up and looked at its contents. Seeing the infants he just turned and brought them inside.

The infants were both twins. They had wispy black hair on the top of there heads with a strange bit of white in the front. One had it on the left side while the other had it on the right. The boy was the one with it on the right. Both were almost crying by now though the boy was staring at the tall man, who was known as Lurch.

"Who's at the door?" a dry, monotone, yet feminine voice asked from inside the house. The voice came from a young adult woman with her hair worn down like her mother's used to, just as dark as the twins, only she had ivory skin that looked eerie.

Her eyes were also very dark and she looked like she was dressed to go to a funeral as she was in an arm-chair by the fireplace and had a novel in her hands decorated fingernails with ebony like her clothes and home polish.

Lurch came through to the younger adult the basket still in his hands. He shut the door behind him and then grunted again and held out the basket so she could see the infants in the basket. He looked calm, not seemingly fussed that a basket with twins in was placed at their door.

The boy twin blinked slightly as he looked at the woman. He went quiet and just stared at her. The girl twin was quiet too, but she seemed to have been trying to avoid eye contact with the woman.

The young adult woman, Wednesday, took the basket to get a closer look and leaned over to look at the twins. She raised an eyebrow at them, wondering where they came from, why they were here, and how they got here. She seemed to be mostly focused on the boy twin since he was the more calm one around her. "Where did these creatures come from?" she asked as if she were talking about an alien species and not human infants.

Lurch shrugged and then looked at the basket questionably, wondering what Wednesday would want him to do with it and possibly the infants.

The boy twin shifted slightly just to get his hands from under the cover that covered the twins.

While Lurch and Wednesday looked at the twins a man who was about the same age as the woman came down the stairs into the 'lounge'. He was a little chunky but not fat, and his hair was short and a dark brown. "What's that Lurch, Wednesday?" he asked them, his voice wasn't very deep and held a kind of confused and curious tone to it.

Wednesday came over, holding the basket with the twins. "Babies, my brother... Somehow they came on our doorstep... How cliché..." she explained, revealing the man with her was her brother and not a husband of any type. "The owner must have mistaken us for the orphanage."

Lurch watched and wondered what the children he had helped Morticia and Gomez raise.

The boy twin grizzled at the man when he saw him.

The man, who was called Pugsley, looked at both of the twins. "They look so weird..." he said, and then stuck a finger to touch the babies, having not actually touched a baby before, not even his and Wednesday's other brother.

The twin girl stopped her focus on the woman and seemed to have been drawn to the young adult man. She looked at him like he were her father or something, but she didn't coo or babble, she was still silent like her twin brother. She even tried to grasp the man's finger when he reached for her.

Wednesday seemed to be very focused on the boy while Pugsley was focused on the girl. "We can't take care of children... We should call the workhouse."

"No, I wanna keep 'em... One at least." Pugsley said, mostly meaning the girl. He gently wiggled his finger as she held it. She was cute and him being the slightly less 'dark' one of the family found this trait okay.

The boy looked slightly unimpressed and even yawned at the fact his sister was holding Pugsley's finger.

Wednesday stared hard and blankly at the girl and her brother bonding. She then glanced at the boy and noticed he had the very same expression she did. She half way smirked, but it wasn't a full smile that would give the most innocent the shivers of the smile from Wednesday Addams.

Wednesday tickled the boy's chin a little and uttered in the most emotionless voice she could utter. "Coochie coochie..." she said, trying to comfort the boy, though her tone was cold as her demeanor.

The girl giggled at Pugsley and seemed to have been entranced by him.

Pugsely picked up the little girl up out of the basket and held her in his arms and tickled her stomach with the finger she was holding. "I think she's cute," he said. "I don't want her to be sent away."

The boy lightly gripped the woman's finger, though he looked unimpressed. However he didn't look upset at all now, if he had seemed to have been upset.

Wednesday felt deeply moved by the baby boy. She then found herself carrying him and did her best to not drop him on purpose like she had tried to drop her brothers when they were babies. "We'll keep them for now... They'll become the newest members of the Addams family..." she said eerily, then suddenly there was a creepy flash of lighting to set the mood.

The girl didn't cry or flinch at the sudden impact, but she was clinging to Pugsley and looking up at him like she wanted to him to be her father of some sort.

"I'll raise the girl, you could raise the boy!" Pugsely announced, with suggestion. He quite liked this little one, and could tell the boy didn't actually like him.

The boy just looked up at Wednesday and blinked at the lightning.

"Deal." Wednesday stated, since she saw the girl was afraid of her, but the boy was attached to her.

The girl looked up at Pugsley, slightly shivering, but not too much. She then glanced at the older woman coming after them.

A woman with long black hair, red lips, and a tight-fitting dress came down the stairs. "What do you have there?" she asked them, her voice soft and mysterious.

Lurch was watching the scene and then just decided that as most people were awake in the house he'd fetch them all something to drink.

"Babies had been left into our care, Mother," Wednesday explained. "We don't know where they came from or who left them here. We're going to raise the children like our own."

Pugsley held the girl slightly closer to keep her warmer. "Yeah," he smiled, agreeing with Wednesday. He looked down at the girl. "I'll call you Penelope." he told her.

The girl cooed quietly to him once she heard her new name. She then looked at the woman closer.

The boy looked at the new woman too and then concentrated back on Wednesday. He wanted her to be his mother, as she didn't feel that different to him.

Morticia, Pugsley and Wednesday's mother, glided down the stairs and came to look at both of the babies. She was calm and collected as she looked at them. "Their hair is so different and their eyes like ice...Lose the pinkness and they'll fit right in." she said, looking between her children then.

"Payton..." Wednesday named the boy in her arms. "They will fit in just fine. I guess you're a grandmama, Mother..." She looked closer at the twins and saw they would fit in fine with their blended family, but they were too flesh-colored. They would probably pale over time, as all babies were born with some kind of pink, except for members of their family of course.

Payton blinked at the sound of his new name, but the corners of his mouth twitched up slightly.

"Excellent." Wednesday saw Payton grew to know his name already, satisfied with herself and him.

Pugsley looked down at Penelope and smiled. "You like that name, huh?"

The girl barely smirked and lightly waved her fingers at him.

Morticia smiled at both her children. "I'm sure your father would adore them," she told them and noticed Penelope looking at her. "Hello, little one..." she said gently.

Penelope looked up at the woman, feeling slightly nervous around her, but didn't show much of it. She could barely understand what was going on around her, but she knew she would adjust just fine with how Pugsley was raising her.

Morticia then looked up at Pugsley. "Keep her out of the sun and don't coddle her too much." she told him.

"Okay, Mom." Pugsley said.

Lurch came in with glasses of red wine for the adults and bottles filled with something that was steaming. He got their attention as he made his usual groan and held out the tray he was carrying. Wednesday turned to Lurch as he came with wine for the adults and nourishment for the babies. Payton looked at Lurch and blinked at the man, he was so tall, but he seemed kind.

Pugsely took one of the bottles and started to get Penelope to drink it. The baby girl opened her mouth a bit as the bottle was coming for her, she was a bit hungry after her weary travel with her twin.

Morticia took her drink of wine with a nod to Lurch. She then looked at Payton. "Wednesday, I think it would be best to keep him out of the sun too." she said, her voice soft still and mysterious.

"Of course, I learn from the best..." Wednesday told her mother, taking her mother's baby care advice securely this time. She took one of the bottles as well for Payton and tried to remember how she was taught how to properly feed a baby.

Pugsley placed the teat in Penelope's mouth and smiled, it was the same formula that he, Wednesday, and Pubert were fed on. Penelope gently suckled on the milk and looked into Pugsley's eyes.

Morticia gave Wednesday a gentle reminder and then went to sit down to drink her wine. She also gave both her mysterious, but gentle smile.

Wednesday made a mental note of it and propped Payton properly in her arms and let him feed on the formula as she gently sat next to her mother. After she was done feeding with Pugsely, they would help themselves to some wine with their mother. When Wednesday watched Payton drink the milk, there was a hidden twinkle in her eye that came from nowhere.

Pugsley's eyes were kind and were happy that he had a life form that he himself could support. Penelope kept drinking, never taking her eyes off Pugsley. Payton suckled on the bottle looking into his new mother's eyes, this way was of forming a bond. Wednesday looked back into Payton's eyes. She never did smile, but deep inside she was really happy she was taking care of someone who wasn't obnoxious or worth killing. Maybe being a mother wouldn't be so bad. Morticia watched her children with their new little beings.

There came Pugsley and Wednesday's father and Morticia's husband, Gomez, the head of the Addams family household. "I heard some clatter, what may I ask is happening?" he then saw the infant twins. "Where did they come from?" he seemed surprised that his children had children of their own.

Pugsely looked up at his dad. "Lurch found these babies on the doorstep, and me and Wednesday are going to raise 'em." he said, then looked back down at Penelope.

Payton just continued to drink looking at Wednesday. He blinked at Gomez's voice though.

Morticia smiled her usual coy smile at her husband. "We had to get new Addamses somehow."

"That's true," Gomez smiled at his wife and smiled at his children with the babies. He was surprised, but not in a bad way like how his daughter reacted earlier, and he hoped they would make fine additions to the family and carry on the Addams family name.

It was the next morning in the Addams family house, but the sun barely cast a shadow over the gloominess of the residence as it was already dark enough inside as it was outside. Wednesday kept Payton in a bassinet in her room that she had grown up in and Pugsley had kept Penelope in his room he grew up in so they could both hear the babies or needed to actually pay attention to them.

Due to the lack of sun, the twins were starting to lose the pinkness in their flesh, but slowly changed dramatically. Wednesday and Pugsley shuddered from the bright clothes their new children were brought to them in and had changed them into dark rags that they had sewn into clothes that would be appropriate for them and the family. Morticia had made sure the siblings knew that they would only have help if they really needed it, the same that Nana had given to her.


	2. Six Years Later

Six years later Payton stood in the room he had been given. His face was stoic and there was no hint of a smile in his face. He straightened out the black suit he wore. It was like a funeral outfit, including the only white thing that was a blouse. His face was incredibly pale and his hair contrasted against his skin, except the white strip in the right side of his hair. It was cut to just below his earlobe.

Wednesday came to check upon Payton and looked up and down at the outfit he was wearing. "You look like a fate worse than death." she complimented.

Payton turned to look at his mother. "Thank you, Mother." he said, his voice simple and quite like Wednesday's herself.

"I know school isn't that all glamorous, but we all have to make sacrifices, I promise, someday you will be over the top of everyone as your followers." Wednesday advised him, though her voice was anything, but motherly.

"Yes, Mother, and I know that I must be careful not to be discovered pranking the other children." the boy said, solemnly.

"Excellent, I raised you better than I thought I did." Wednesday sounded satisfied through her thick emotionless nature of speaking.

Payton nodded and then heard the clock in the hallway downstairs.

Wednesday heard the clock too. "Come on, let's get downstairs and get your lunch and backpack." she told the boy on her way out.

While in another part of the mansion Pugsley was waiting for Penelope to come out of her room. Today was the first day of the twin's second year at school.

Penelope was dressed in a dark royal purple dress that was dark enough to be suitable for the Addams family color coordinated outfits. She wore her hair rather down, nearly beneath her waist looking like Rapunzel from a fairy tale.

Her face had grown just as pale as everyone else and the white stripe in her hair had flown like the other flow of her hair to fit in touch with the style. She finished her outfit and came out to see Pugsley as she was now all dressed. "Do we really have to go to this school thing again?" she asked in a dry voice and nearly had an accent in it which nearly sounded like Gomez's turn of phrase.

Pugsley looked at Penelope. "Yes, your aunt and I had to go too when we were your age."

Penelope put her hands together and looked up at Pugsley gently. "I'll try not to do my homework around the plants again... They say no one will believe you if you say something ate your homework..." she heard various rumors from the older kids who isolated her and her twin about the incoming horrors of grade school. She wasn't afraid though, but she had a bit of nervousness pumping through her icy cold veins as icy as her eyes.

Pugsely nodded and patted her head. "Good girl," he told her. "And, you know what to do if someone annoys you?" he then asked her.

"Throw something sharp and deathly at them?" Penelope asked, innocently.

"Yes, but aim to maim, not kill," Pugsley said with a grin. "You're too young for that."

"Aim to maim..." Penelope repeated as a mental note to remind herself and remember.

Lurch was making the lunches for the day.

"Do the children have their supplies?" Gomez asked Morticia as he passed, getting up early as it was a new school morning, seeing her pack up their backpacks.

Morticia looked at her husband. "Yes, they have all their books, a poisoned apple for the teacher, and writing utensils." she said, the poisoned apple stated like it was a usual thing.

Gomez smiled and waited for the children to come collect their things. "I hope the apple is spoiled and not ripe..."

"They look ripe," Morticia smiled coyly. "But the poison would have spoiled the insides. How else would the teacher eat it?" she asked him, her brown eyes looking into his.

Lurch came in and placed the bagged lunches next to the children's satchels.

"It's perfect and rotten, just like my love for you." Gomez smiled back, looking into her eyes. He then saw the packed lunches and school bags. "Thank you, Lurch, I'm sure the children will appreciate it."

Morticia looked at Lurch too. "You packed their favorites?" she asked him.

Lurch looked at his employers/family and nodded. "Yeah..." he growled out in his usual deep way.

Gomez smiled and made sure the backpacks were distinguish so his foster grandchildren could not try to fight each other over who's is who's really. He then smiled once he saw Wednesday come in with Payton and Pugsley come with Penelope. "Are you two ready for your new year in school?"

"You mean the new year of being in between people who are probably going to try to infect us with their brightness...I guess..." Payton told his grandfather, in his own emotionless voice.

Wednesday glanced at her son. She had said the very same thing when going back to school for a new year when she was younger.

Pugsley looked at Penelope and smiled.

Morticia handed Payton his lunch and the bag that had a dagger badge on the front. She then handed Penelope hers. "I've put poison apples in your bags for the teacher," she told them firmly, though still mysterious. "Remember that they are only for the teacher."

Penelope took her bag which had a black bird, possibly a raven or a crow on the front, and opened it to find any treats she could look forward to when it was lunch time.

"Also remember, you're too young to kill anyone in your class." Gomez added.

Payton nodded to Gomez. "Yes, Grandfather..." he said, once again solemnly.

Penelope nodded, remembering her foster father's words to her before they came down to get ready. She then looked at her hair, she liked how it looked and felt something was missing.

That was when the 'helping hand' of the house crept over closer to the family. He had a dark purple bow with a cracked skull in the center and tied it into Penelope's hair which made her feel more accessorized.

She wasn't that feminine, but a little fashion didn't hurt. "Thanks..." she told the hand.

Pugsley looked at the clock. "Time to go."

Lurch made his way to the car to drive the children to the school.

"Goodbye Grandmother, goodbye Grandfather. Bye Dad." Penelope waved to Morticia and Gomez and went with her twin brother to their journey to school again. Hopefully they won't try to kill the students with them in the process again this year. She sat next to her brother and looked around her surroundings as they would be going to a place called 'first grade'.

"Stay out of the sun!" Wednesday added to them sharply once they got into the car.

"Yeah!" Pugsley shouted afterward with a nod.

Payton looked calmly ahead. He didn't want to go to school but soon he would be able to take over the stupid mortals who weren't his family.

Penelope had mixed feelings for school. She didn't have any friends, but she felt she would be fine with Payton by her side. Even though the twins didn't say it to each other from their upbringings, they loved each other like any other siblings would.

Though, deep inside, she actually wanted to make at least one friend, hanging around her family was nice and dark as she had ever wanted, but it got boring after a while. She thought maybe this year she could attempt to make a friend remembering her new family motto translated from Latin. "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us".

Payton looked at his sister sensing her unease. He didn't say anything but he took his sister's hand.

Penelope glanced at her hand grabbed and looked back at her brother. She didn't say anything either and continued to stare out and see endless happy children frolicking along and going to their first day of school as well. A lot of them who were younger than her and her brother seemed to perky and cheerful to be a friend for her.

Payton stiffened at the sight of the happy froliking children. However he didn't react other than that.

Penelope took out their parasol before they would hit the sunlight as the kids were happily running around the school, without a worry or a care.

Lurch shut the doors for the children after he handed a parasol for the children to share. He got in the driver's seat and drove them to the school.

Wednesday didn't say or react from it, but she was worried about her children. They weren't her or Pugsley's biological children, so sometimes she felt like their natural instincts would kick in aside from the parenting she learned from her own mother with raising her and Pugsley, and their younger brother.

Pugsley looked at his sister. "They grow up fast." he stated.

"Indeed..." Wednesday slowly nodded.

Pugsley gave another nod and then went off to see if he could bug Thing or Uncle Fester.

Wednesday went to her room to do some cleaning to keep herself busy. She had the typical mother baby blues. When the twins were younger she did her best not to pay too much attention to them and at the same time give them comfort, but if they had a horrible nightmare after a bedtime story, Wednesday knew she was being a good woman to the children. She was proud when she saw some baby pictures of Payton trying to replace his sister's baby bottle with a stick of dynamite and had a hidden smile.

Mortcia placed a hand on Gomez's shoulder leaning her head against it as she watched the children.

Gomez watched too, feeling proud and accomplished. "I wonder if the children would like to see my train-set...?" he asked out of the blue, thinking of his long pleasured activity when to himself and formed a wicked smile.

Morticia pursed her lips slightly, smiling up at Gomez. "I'm sure they would..." she said, running her hand down his arm.

Gomez chuckled at her, then he went to collect the mail from the possible postman held hostage by something dangerous in the normal person's mind but a treat to a member of his family.

Morticia smiled, hearing the postman's screams. "Very loyal..." she stated, shaking her head slightly.

"Whether in rain or snow," Gomez added to his wife. "The post mail carrier too..."

Morticia chuckled lightly. "Let's make sure he doesn't get eaten, it would be a pain to train a new one..." she said, not needing a parasol as around the house was quite dark anyway.

"Good thinking, mi divine..." Gomez lightly smiled and followed her out to check the mail.

Morticia smiled. "I know, mon amore..." she said, not using the usual saying they said as Gomez and her only called each other 'Cara Mia' and 'Mon Chere' when they were feeling rather passionate.

Lurch pulled to a stop outside the school. He turned to look at the children.


	3. Back to School

Payton walked towards the school with his sister. He noticed someone new standing with the principal in front of the school. She looked around their age but she was contrast to them. Her hair was a dark blonde and she was wearing a lavender dress.

Penelope looked with him at the girl. She felt like she should go and meet the girl, but wasn't sure what exactly to do and how to greet the girl. She looked back at her brother, clinging to him like he were a security blanket. "That girl is hideous in those colors... But... I think I should talk with her..." she sounded easily overwhelmed unlike her father, aunt, and brother who often sounded confident whenever they would speak their minds.

Payton looked at his sister, the younger twin, and nodded, agreeing with the horrible color. "Maybe you could when we get safely in the shade..." he said, almost emotionless.

The girl sensed someone looking at her and turned to see who was looking at her. Her eyes were hazel and her lips were a dark pink. The girl blinked and then talked back with the Headmaster. She told herself she would go to talk to these people who were different that the others.

Penelope and the girl's eyes locked and looked back at her brother, still clinging onto him.

Suddenly, a boy about their age dashed toward the twins and struck Payton on the arm. "Tag, you're it!" he called, then ran away.

Penelope glanced at the boy for 'assaulting' her brother.

Payton looked after the boy, his face never changing. What was this 'Tag'?

The boy looked at him. "I hit you and then I run away... It's fun..."

Penelope tried to understand, but it sounded useless and a bunch of nonsense in her mind. "Are we allowed to use poisoned darts?" she asked the boy who seemed to be smarter than they were at the moment.

Payton looked very mildly interested at hearing his sister mention poisonous darts. He wasn't going to leave the shade of the parasol though.

The girl blinked as the head teacher pointed to the 'strange' ones. She nodded and then slowly came towards them. Her nose was luckily cute enough so that she hadn't had a nose job.

The boy stared at them and just walked away.

Penelope frowned, feeling hurt inside. She had ruined an opportunity to make a friend. That girl she looked at earlier wouldn't give her a chance now, would she? She sighed and continued to look about with her brother until the bell would ring and bring them all into classes. She then looked over at the girl who looked bright, but not as bright and flashy as the other schoolchildren.

Payton saw the girl coming over and looked the other way, as good of privacy as he could give them, without leaving Penelope alone.

The girl came up to them, looking a little shy. "Hi, I'm Alice..." she started, unsure of what to say next. The principal had decided that though they were the strangest in the school they were the smartest and more mature of the student's Alice's own age.

Penelope looked at the girl and had a strange look on her face. It wasn't dooming or intimidating, she just wasn't sure how to react. "Hello... My name is Penelope..." she said, her voice as gentle as autumn winds on Halloween night. She tried her best to smile, but seemed to have been having trouble properly smiling in a social ritual.

Payton looked at the girl and away. "Payton..." he said simply, unemotionally.

Alice winced slightly at how Penelope couldn't smile properly but offered a smile. "It's nice to meet you, umm... I'm kind of new here and the principal thought you guys would be best to help me get used to the school?" she said, ending on a question as she didn't know if they'd accept. She wasn't sure about making friends quite yet, she didn't even know them properly.

Penelope raked one of her ivory fingers through her ebony hair with the exception of the white skunk stripe inherited from possibly her biological family she didn't know about. "We could try..." she said, gently. "We kinda grew up faster than the other children in this school..." she sounded very proper for her age and could pronounce everything correctly.

Most children her age had speech impediments, but her grandparents always tutored her and her brother on speaking with other people. She felt really happy inside that someone was actually talking to her and it wasn't followed by a scolding for trying to harm the other children.

"Thanks..." Alice smiled at Penelope.

Payton looked at the sun from under their parasol. "Can we go in now, please? The brightness is making my eyes ache..." he said, his tone still emotionless.

Alice looked from Penelope to Payton. "Okay." she told the boy.

"We're allergic to the sun." Penelope clarified to Alice. She slowly smiled back, though it still looked awkward. Her smile was less frightening when her brother would smile even if it wasn't the best smile a little girl could have their age. She then walked with Alice into the school as the students were all called into their new classes for the new school year.

Payton was glad that they didn't get separated classes. He put down the parasol when they were inside and stood by his sister. Alice stood next to Penelope on the other side than Payton.

The trio looked slightly strange, two kids in almost funeral wear and one in lavender, rather a strange combo. Penelope felt better adjusted by the dimly lit rooms of the classroom since some students had sensitivity to light, if only it could have been that way when the twins were in Kindergarten. She looked hopeful with Payton and Alice as they walked into the classroom.

The teacher of the room stacked some papers behind her desk and smiled warmly at her incoming students. She then jumped back a little in alarm once she saw Payton and Penelope. She hadn't seen them before, but she put on her best smile. "H-Hello, dears, my name is Ms. Shimmer." she smiled friendly, she loved children but she hadn't seen anyone like Payton and Penelope before.

Payton looked back at the teacher unemotionally. "I am Payton Addams, this is my sister, Penelope Addams, and the one in light color is called Alice." he said, also unemotionally.

Alice smiled a little at the teacher, rather nervously. Penelope twiddled her fingers a bit, looking at the teacher.

"Pleased to meet you, why don't you take a seat until the next bell rings, okay?" Ms. Shimmer asked, gently with the warmest smile she could give to anyone. "We'll all get to know each other better and make new friends!"

Payton took out the apple, handing it to the teacher, unashamed to give it and then took a seat at a table that was clear of others, furthest away from the window.

Alice looked at Penelope, planning on sitting with the girl.

Penelope gave her apple too and smiled the best she could which made some of the younger students cry at the sight of it. She then went to take a seat, deciding where she could sit. She noticed Alice looking at her and looked back. She seemed surprised that someone was willing to sit with her.

Ms. Shimmer smiled that she got apples by some of her new students, but her smile disappeared as she saw a worm come out of one. She turned green as the worm and stood up. "Excuse me, children, I'm going to pay a quick visit to the nurse..." she said, witheringly then rushed out of the classroom.

"I wonder what's eating her...?" Penelope asked herself as she watched the teacher go away rather quickly.

Payton looked at Penelope. "Maybe the worm bit her." he said in his usual tone of voice.

Alice came and sat over by Penelope. "Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked, just before she would sit down.

Penelope smiled and patted the seat next to her to let Alice sit with her.

Alice smiled and sat down properly. "Thank you."

"Of course..." Penelope thanked in her own words, gently.

A different boy than on the playground came in the classroom. He wore big glasses which made most of the kids make fun of him and he went to sit next to Payton as everyone else saved seats for someone else to sit with themselves rather than invite them. The boy seemed hesitant to sit with Payton, but he struggled and did it anyway, doing his best to not bother Payton.

Payton looked at the boy. He blinked slowly once. "Do you plan on trying to convince me to like you?" he asked blankly.

The boy looked back at Payton and shrugged his shoulders.

Ms. Shimmer came back in the classroom, a little wobbly in her walking. She heard the bell ring, which had her shut the door and smile before her class, even if Payton and Penelope put her in an uneasy mood. "Good morning class and welcome back to school." she greeted warmly. "My name is Ms. Shimmer." she turned to write her name on the blackboard.

The kids all looked at the teacher. Payton just turned his face ahead from the boy next to him. "Well, don't if you value your life..." he muttered to the boy from their meeting so the teacher wouldn't hear. He looked blankly at the teacher. His eyes like the color they were named for.

The boy kept looking away from Payton, shaking the goosebumps the dark boy gave him.

Alice looked at the teacher. Penelope looked at the teacher and twiddled her fingers at the same time, feeling lost. First grade seemed different from Kindergarten. Instead of big tables, the students were two to each table, there were bigger numbers, and they had to read books instead of listening to stories.

"Why don't we go around the classroom and introduce each other? Now, who would like to go first?" Ms. Shimmer asked the class.

Alice looked at the others, seeing that no one else was going to go first. She decided to get it over with. "I'm Alice Davis, I'm six, and I don't like pink." she said.

Penelope looked blank too, but was happy that her possibly new best friend went first.

"Nice to meet you, Alice," Ms. Shimmer smiled. "Anyone else? Anyone?" she looked at the class, her eyes mainly focused on the nonconformists in the room. "Addams twins, why don't you go next?" she suggested.

Payton looked stoically at the teacher. "Fine..." he said, his voice emotionless. "My name is Payton Addams, and anyone who tries to inflict brightness to me or one of mine will face decapitation..." he said never once deflecting from his normal tone.

Alice looked at him, her mouth falling open.

Ms. Shimmer's face paled. "Erm... Thank you, Payton..."

The other students looked at him, looking nervous and frightened.

Penelope cleared her throat with her gentle voice mixed with an accent that sounded strange to the other kids. "My name is Penelope Addams, Payton is my brother... Don't hurt me, I just hope we can all be friends. Does anyone have a lighter?"

"A lighter for what, dear?" Ms. Shimmer asked innocently.

Penelope took out an old-fashioned Cruella deVil like cigarette held between her fingers much like Gomez, he had been smoking since he was five.

Payton rested his chin on his fist. "Here..." he droned, taking one out of his pocket.

Alice looked at him with wide eyes. However she offered a small smile to Penelope, though the smoking was weird.

Penelope smirked at him, taking the lighter for her cigarette. She looked at Alice apologetically. "Oh, I'm sorry... Did you want one?" she looked at her, seeing as she was mainly focused on the smoking.

"Um, Penelope, since you're new here, you should know," Ms. Shimmer said, uneasily. "But, we do not allow smoking in the classroom."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Shimmer, I'll do it outside at recess." Penelope agreed.

Payton took his lighter back.

Alice looked at her. "Is it good?" she asked, quietly.

"I mostly do it when I'm stressed or nervous." Penelope hid her cigarette in her bag and sat back down next to Alice. "My grandfather Gomez had been doing it since he was five, his mother insisted."

Payton nodded. "It is true." he said, monotony.

Ms. Shimmer let the strange activity slide and let the other students introduce themselves. Then they were given some sheets of paper to tell more about them and send them to the teacher.

Payton then proceeded to write usual disturbing answers on his sheet of paper. Alice smiled at Penelope slightly and then worked on her own sheet. Penelope smiled at Alice, then went to work on her paper as well. Ms. Shimmer smiled at her students, hoping that would settle them. Just hearing Penelope and Payton's stories of themselves kind of overwhelmed her.

Payton soon finished and looked up at Ms. Shimmer, his face blank. "I've finished..." he said, monotonously.

Alice soon had finished too.

"Okay, sweetie, just wait for the others, please." Ms. Shimmer smiled delicately. "Who needs more time?"

A few other children raised their hands as they wrote on the assigned paper.

Penelope nearly finished and looked through her answers to see how she did like a high school student finishing an important test paper than a child finishing the paper, satisfied with any answers they listed.

Payton exhaled almost completely silently. He however looked completely like his normal self. How dare that teacher call him a 'Sweetie'. Alice placed her pencil down as she finished.

Penelope looked at Alice. "I hope we can be friends." she whispered gently to the dark blonde haired girl.

Alice nodded a little. She hoped it would be good to have a friend, especially as interesting as Penelope and her brother.

Ms. Shimmer saw everyone finished and went to collect their papers. "Children, I hope you all have something special from home to bring into school. I was thinking maybe tomorrow we could start a show and tell day? I've always loved show and tell day when I was your ages, I brought in my old stuffed bunny."

"Did it scream when you stuffed it?" Penelope asked.

Ms. Shimmer looked at her oddly.

Payton nodded and looked at his sister. "It probably did." he said. He then gave thought as to what he could bring for his show and tell.

"The stuffed rabbit Lurch gave me screamed before he gave it to me." Penelope clarified.

Ms. Shimmer chose to ignore the twins and keep up with her announcements. She mentioned how the students were going to have to work harder this year since they weren't in Kindergarten anymore. There wouldn't be a nap time anymore, a snack break, and some lesson plans, and a task all students dread the most in school known as: Homework.

Payton nodded once. He didn't tell the teacher that him and Penelope had read up to a third grade level. Alice didn't look too upset, she had never napped in the afternoons at the school she had gone to. Penelope focused, even though the teacher seemed to be ignoring her and her brother now.

"Also, in a short while, we will have a parents evening where you'll come with your parents and I'll tell your parents about how you do in my class." Ms. Shimmer continued her announcements to go into the school year. She looked at Alice, seeming to look forward to meeting her parents since Alice's parents grew up around this area and moved to start a family, only to come back once Alice came into the new grade.

Payton stared at the teacher, wondering if he should scare her sometime. Alice took a strand of her hair and absently bit the end of the strand. She wasn't as 'perfect' as he mother, but then again she was only six. Penelope had an uneasy feeling about the teacher.

"Now, why don't we have a math test to see what you remember from kindergarten?" Ms. Shimmer now took out papers for the class to fill out with some addition and subtraction problems.

Payton took the sheet that was handed to him, he read it over and if he showed emotion he would be showing boredom and annoyance at how easy it was. Alice looked at the maths test. Both knew they couldn't start until the teacher said. Ms. Shimmer allowed the students to start and timed them for ten minutes to complete the quick quiz.

Penelope finished quicker before Ms. Shimmer would sit back down to her desk and wait for the students to finish. It seemed as though she finished in under ten seconds. She then glanced at Alice to see if she had any trouble.

"Oh, my goodness..." the boy next to Payton, mumbled under his breath.

Payton had finished at the same time as Penelope. He looked at the boy. "Why pray to a diety?" he asked, quietly.

"What?" the boy turned to Payton in confusion of what he said.

Payton looked at him. "A diety, someone you worship," he whispered, even they sounded monotone. "In a few cultures, goodness is counted as a diety."

"Oh..." the boy said, still feeling nervous.

Payton fell asleep with his eyes open, his hands under his chin.

Alice was doing okay, not as fast as Penelope or Payton but working at it steadily. The tip of her tongue stuck out through her lips. Penelope smiled a bit, then looked forward while some of the other students struggled at the surprise inclusion of the double-digit problems and the bigger number being on top of a smaller number in some subtraction.

Alice may have got a few wrong but she tried her best. Penelope felt bored waiting for the other students to finish. She then flipped the paper on the back and started to write a poem. She often wrote poetry about anything on her mind whenever she was bored. She really loved her poems and her family did too even though many of them were incredibly sad such as a squirrel she witnessed being eaten alive by a rabies infested dog.

Ms. Shimmer glanced at her students as they wrote and they were nearly done. "Two more minutes." she told them, nearly in melody with her voice.

Alice put her pencil down and looked at Penelope.

The boy next to Payton tried to work with the problems, but struggled a bit and wound up chewing his pencil in anxiousness. Payton breathed evenly, not seeming that he was actually asleep. He continued his calm and even breathing, still asleep. Only Penelope would tell that he was actually sleep.

Penelope smiled, taking Alice's hand. She had indeed succeeded in making a friend today and this year in school. Maybe this first grade wouldn't be so bad. Alice squeezed the girl's hand back in return. The twins were strange but she didn't care.

Ms. Shimmer stood to collect the test papers. "Time's up! Let's see how you did." she collected their papers and was surprised to see that Penelope and Payton solved all the problems correctly. Alice finished too, but she seemed to have been in a rush at the final few answers and she got a few of the problems wrong. Ms. Shimmer glanced at the twins, then continued to collect the papers. After a while of her teaching, it would be lunch time.

Payton barely blinked as he woke up. He seemed like he was just being his normal self.


	4. Wednesday's Lament

Wednesday didn't say or react from it, but she was worried about her children. They weren't her or Pugsley's biological children, so sometimes she felt like their natural instincts would kick in aside from the parenting she learned from her own mother with raising her and Pugsley, and their younger brother.

Pugsley looked at his sister. "They grow up fast." he stated.

"Indeed..." Wednesday slowly nodded.

Pugsley gave another nod and then went off to see if he could bug Thing or Uncle Fester.

Wednesday went to her room to do some cleaning to keep herself busy. She had the typical mother baby blues. When the twins were younger she did her best not to pay too much attention to them and at the same time give them comfort, but if they had a horrible nightmare after a bedtime story, Wednesday knew she was being a good woman to the children. She was proud when she saw some baby pictures of Payton trying to replace his sister's baby bottle with a stick of dynamite and had a hidden smile.

Pugsley was feeling both proud and upset. He hated to see his little girl go.

Wednesday finished cleaning and left the room. She found her brother and looked around. "I miss them..." she sounded more solemn than usual.

Pugsley looked at Wednesday. "They'll be back soon." he told her.

"I hope the other kids don't make fun of them," Wednesday said, abruptly then stopped a moment. "I'd hate to go to another parent teacher conference about a case of a murdered five year old again."

"They know not to kill them now, though." Pugsley said with a nod.

"That was the hardest parent child conversation of my life..." Wednesday looked back at him.

Pugsley smiled at her. "That's okay, they learned that they aren't allowed to kill anyone at that young age."

"Now they just try to kill each other..." Wednesday added.

"We used to too, remember?" Pugsley grinned. He, himself, remembered the almost poisoning.

"The electric chair and the wheel you'd be strapped to and I'd shoot an apple..." Wednesday was intrigued by her childhood memories.

Pugsley nodded, smiling almost cluelessly, though he did remember. "The guillotine..."

"Is There a God?" Wednesday nearly smirked, remembering that the game involved electrocuting him.

Pugsley laughed a little, though less humorously that when they were children. That aspect had changed about him. "We never found out..." he said.

Wednesday smirked at him, then continued to look at the photographs. "I'm so happy..." she said in a grave tone of voice.

Pugsley blinked and glanced at her but joined her looking at the photos again.

Wednesday then saw their younger brother's baby picture. She grimaced and flinched a bit, since she and Pugsley had hated the baby more than each other when they were growing up. They were all on good terms now, but it was still a painful reminder of how he stole the attention and is partly responsible for their parents doing the impossible: making love. Pugsley looked at the picture too. He shrugged, having not much against their younger sibling at the moment.

Wednesday shrugged and put down the picture. "Why do you think the twins' real mother abandoned them?"

Pugsley shrugged with a suggestion. "Maybe she couldn't afford to keep them."

"And to think when you were born I put you in the graveyard for wolves to take you in as their own." Wednesday suddenly remembered baby abandoning was common for her, which was why she wanted to get rid of the twins at first. She didn't like children growing up because they were annoying to her and found some of them to be useless. The people she grew up with couldn't be forgiven, but if they were blood, they seemed to have a good chance seeing as Pugsley and Pubert are still alive.

Pugsley grinned not upset about it. Wednesday took a break from the photos and left the room. She seemed to have been more weary than usual. Pugsley watched her go and then put the photo book away. Wednesday glanced out the window. She wasn't sure how to feel. Pugsley went to help Lurch. Wednesday sat in her mother's old spot where she would paint. Something was bothering her, but she wasn't sure what it was. She felt like something was missing in her life.

Morticia looked at the thing holding the postman. It was Grandmama's hand-plant. The blooms were actual hands that would grab anything that came too close.

The postman shivered in the grasp and shakily handed the letters addressed to the estranged family.

"Thank you, my good man." Gomez said, taking the letters, leaving the postman to dangle from the plant.

Morticia looked at the plant. "Don't keep him there too long." she told it, smiling at the postman, and then followed her husband back inside.

The postman looked scared, nearly shivering as the dark couple went inside to look at their mail. Lurch came into the grounds, ignoring the postman. The Hand-bush suddenly dropped the postman.

The postman screamed as he fell then quickly made it for the gates of the Addams family mansion to get as far away from them as possible. "I should've listened to my mother and been a dentist!"

Morticia walked beside her husband looking at the mail in her husband's hand.

"Bill... Bill... Junk... Jury duty... Blackmail... Oh, that's my favorite one!" Gomez took out the blackmail, having thrown the other envelopes into the fireplace.

Morticia smiled and then went to sit down.

Gomez sat and sorted some of the letters. "Do you think the children are enjoying being parents?"

Morticia looked in the direction of her now adult children were and then looked back at her husband. "I'm sure they do now, Wednesday didn't seem to at first..." she said, not judging her daughter at all, she was actually proud that Wednesday actually cared for another being that wasn't her parents, uncle, Lurch, or even Pugsley and Pubert.

Gomez looked with her at their grown children. They had really matured since they had adopted the twins into their own family. "It's almost like Great-Aunt Lavina and her children... They beheaded her once she grew to love them."

Morticia nodded. "Give them time..." she said, calmly, as the family didn't view death like others did.

Gomez nodded and heard the telephone. "I'll fetch it."

Morticia nodded and watched her husband go. Her face was pale but a strip of light over her eyes made that bit seem lighter. Lurch was tidying up a bit. Thing the hand came up to keep Morticia company and brushed some loose hair over her face back so she would look quite beautiful.

Morticia smiled as Thing did this. "Thank you, Thing." she said, her tone gentle.

Gomez came back in the room, gently. "Some family members want to come and meet the twins when they couldn't come before. Think they'll mind a family reunion during their school days?"

Morticia looked at her beloved husband. "I'm sure they'll welcome it." she informed him.

"They're Addamses of course." Gomez smiled.

Morticia smiled. "It will be good to see the family again..." she said and sipped on a drink that Lurch had brought in.

Lurch handed one to Gomez too. Gomez took his and took a sip in agreement. Morticia smiled coyly and lovingly at Gomez. She sensed that one of her children needed her and so, after kissing Gomez, she went upstairs. Gomez smiled at her and kept drinking.

Wednesday looked out the window to the Addams family graveyard. They always went there for Halloween after scaring several trick or treaters and would dig up their deceased relatives. It was always quite fun, especially with Uncle Fester.

Morticia came up to Wednesday. She looked mysterious and almost aloof except her eyes. "Is there something the matter, Wednesday, dear?" she asked.

Wednesday looked back at her mother, then back out the window. "Why would anything be wrong?" she asked, emotionless as she had ever since she was able to speak properly.

Morticia came and sat next to Wednesday, looking out too. "I'm a mother, I know... It's a deep, mysterious bond that no one would ever comprehend." she said.

"That's a good point..." Wednesday kept staring out the window. "Mother, do you think I'll ever marry?"

Morticia looked at her and then at the graveyard. "If you can keep one without killing him, yes." she said.

"How many did you kill before you met Dad?" Wednesday asked, quietly enjoying the mother daughter bonding activity.

Morticia gave a small hum. "About six..." she said, matter of factly.

"I think I might want to look for a suitor," Wednesday stated. "Hopefully he'll like children..." she now sounded caring for the twins being in their home even if she wanted to send them away the first time she laid her eyes on them.

Morticia looked at her again. "Would you like your father and I to find some for you?" she asked her.

"If you can, every guy I have met in my life was either terrified of me and ran away or was absolutely disgusted with me." Wednesday didn't show it, but she felt hurt she couldn't catch herself a man as well as her mother or any other woman in her family. She felt like her family role model Aunt Calpurnia, though Wednesday was never burnt at the stake. She only wished it could have been her at the time.

"You are a very pretty girl, one day a man would be proud to be the husband of such a beautiful girl." Morticia said. She always thought that Wednesday was pretty, and knew one day she would become a 'man-eater'.

"I feel fresh as a dead daisy..." Wednesday sighed, barely smiling. She was in a better mood now after having talking to her mother.

Morticia nodded. "Would you like to join your father and I in one of Lurch's special brews?" she then asked.

"Okay." Wednesday accepted, standing up and feeling a bit better than earlier. Her voice sounded like it nearly had emotion this time, but she didn't think anyone would be able to notice because of how dull her speaking voice often was.

Morticia stood up and nodded and led the way to where she had left Gomez.

Wednesday collected herself and followed her mother. Gomez was waiting for their meal to be done and looked over at Wednesday. He then did a double take, looking at her.

"What?" Wednesday looked at her father like he found something wrong with her.

"I'm sorry, Wednesday, you just look so much like your mother..." Gomez cracked a smile, feeling pleased with their family.

Morticia went to ask Lurch for another of the drinks he had made, this one for Wednesday. When she came back she looked at Wednesday and then Gomez, a smile on her face.

Wednesday wasn't completely sure what her father said was meant to be a compliment or an insult. "Thank you..." she said, meaning it to him, usually when she said it to anyone else, she was forced to.

Morticia handed Wednesday her drink. "Here." she said.

"Thank you, Mother." Wednesday took it, ready to drink.

"You girls talk about anything special?" Gomez asked, making conversation for being excluded from it earlier.

Morticia glanced at Wednesday, allowing the girl to decide whether to tell Gomez or not, however, either way, she would bring up the idea of finding Wednesday a suitor.

"Girl talk." Wednesday answered her father, sipping her drink.

"Wednesday, we've been through this," Gomez spoke up. "There are times when a young woman starts to bleed without being stabbed or shot in a wound..."

Wednesday looked at him. "Other girl talk."

Morticia nodded.

"Oh," Gomez sounded a little relieved. "What this time, dear?"

"Courtship." Wednesday clarified.

"We need to choose some suitors, our Wednesday is ready to join the ranks of 'the married'." Morticia said, nodding.

"She IS growing up..." Gomez instantly felt old, even if he now had six-year-old grandchildren and his youngest child was moved out to his own life, but his daughter wanting to get married made him feel as old as Grandmama.

Morticia looked at her husband and stroked his arm. "You are still handsome as you where when you were that young adult feeding rice to my neighbor's pigeons..." she cooed.

"Oh..." Gomez looked up at her softly.

Wednesday watched her parents and studied her mother's ways with her father to study them to find herself a suitable mate. She wondered if she could find a man well enough to take care of her, provide for the family they would have, and strap her to a board and twist her arms and legs to an unpleasantly tortured degree.

Morticia smiled lovingly up at him. "I still remember the feather necklace you gave me from the bodies of their popped corpses..."

"Only the best for Cara Mia..." Gomez purred, feeling loving toward her back.

"Should I go now?" Wednesday asked, seeing her parents display endless emotion upon each other which made her feel sick to her stomach, she wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

Morticia glanced briefly away and looked at Wednesday. "Only if you want to..." she said, breathlessly and turned back to Gomez. As the girl left, Morticia placed her hands on either side of his neck. "Oh, Mon Chere..." she breathed.

Gomez laughed, holding her tightly and lovingly. Morticia twitched her eyebrow in her usual sultry way.

"You're a lucky woman, Mrs. Addams..." Gomez told her with a dashing smile.

Morticia just smiled, she knew she was lucky to have someone as delightfully dashing and dark as Gomez was.

Wednesday shrugged and went back out after finishing her drink. She had never imagined herself to ever have children. The night the twins came into their care was a surprise on her. She had never imagined herself to be married either, she never went to her school prom, but she did a motive similar to Stephen King's Carrie and dropped blood on Amanda Buckman as she was crowned Prom Queen. There was a boy in summer camp she was forced to attend to with Pugsley who shared certain interests and was different like they were, only not morbid. She thought she had liked him, but she would likely never see him again. Who would bother take her as a lover?


	5. Making Friends

It was lunch time now in Ms. Shimmer's class after a while of teaching. Alice smiled as this time came. "What do you guys have for lunch?" she asked.

Penelope opened her bag to take out her lunch and she looked at its contents. She smiled instantly at the sandwich. "Lizard and onions, my favorite."

Payton opened his and looked in it. "Stilton and worms..." he monotoned.

The boy next to Payton decided to go off and sit somewhere else, cringing and feeling queasy from the worms.

Alice blanched a little, but offered a smile. She looked into hers. "Ham and salad..." she stated.

"Ham and salad?" Penelope glanced at her strangely like Alice's food was weird and theirs was normal.

Alice looked at Penelope's. "I-I've never heard of lizard and onion sandwiches." she said.

"Really? It's one of Great-Grandmama's best recipes..." Penelope shrugged and bit into her sandwich. "I never heard of a ham and salad sandwich."

Ms. Shimmer took a closer look at Payton and Penelope and decided to schedule an early conference for their parents to come and visit her. It was very unlikely for a schoolteacher to ask for a meeting on the first day of school, but this seemed to be serious.

Payton looked at the teacher seeing her staring at him and Penelope. He decided he would scare her. He then forced his face into a smile that would scare even the bravest of men.

Ms. Shimmer went to look at the class roster and she nearly fell out of her chair once she saw Payton smile. Some of the other students gasped at Ms. Shimmer falling, some of them laughed, Penelope was emotionless. Alice was one of the ones who had giggled.

Payton quickly returned to his emotionless look. He then took a big bite of his sandwich.

Alice looked back at Penelope then. "Oh... Well...Do you want to try some?" she asked her.

Penelope looked at her and placed her sandwich down. "Just a nibble so I can see if it satisfies my taste buds." she told the other girl, gently, sounding rather polite. She had learned of manners from her father and grandmother. "Is it just ham and salad or are there other ingredients?"

Penelope gave a small smile at Alice and took a small bite of the sandwich in case she liked it so she would have some leftover. "Not my great-grandmama's cooking, but not too bad." she complimented, hoping Alice would feel good from that and not take it in a bad way.

Alice smiled. "Your great-grandmama sounds like a rather interesting cook."

"Indeed, she makes great dishes." Penelope said, sounding happier than before.

"I'd like to meet her one day."

Penelope looked at her and around. "Do you trick or treat?"

Alice looked at her. "Like going to people's houses to get candy or play tricks on them?" she asked, then continued. "No, Mommy doesn't like it, and just buys candy in..." she told her.

"That's horrible!" Penelope crossed her arms. "We love Halloween at my house. Mr. Lurch likes to open the door and scare the trick or treaters away while we have an old-fashioned family reunion.

Alice sighed softly, a wistful smile on her face. "It sounds great." she informed her new friend.

Penelope wanted to help Alice out. Not being able to trick or treat had to be against the law. Halloween was the best holiday ever invented.

"Jeffry, it is lunch time, not reading time!" Ms. Shimmer scolded the glasses boy who sat next to Payton in class and she snatched his book away from him.

The boy, Jeffry, moaned sadly and dug through his lunch box.

Payton looked at the teacher, he then looked at the boy. "I commend you on the way you are trying to expand your brain... Though, it may not work." he said.

Jeffry glanced at him. "What do you suggest then?" he sounded rather mature for his age now, than the first impression he made on the dark and gloomy boy earlier.

Payton looked at him, emotionless. "Maybe you should submit yourself to brain expanding experimentation." he suggested.

Jeffry smiled a bit. "That could work..."

Payton nodded slowly and took another bite of his sandwich. "I could help you out there, if you would be interested..." he said.

"Oh, okay." Jeffry smiled a little, but not too much to put off Payton.

"I have a cousin who's training me," Payton said with another nod. He was planning on getting the boy to submit to Payton himself so the experiment could happen.

"Interesting..." Jeffry seemed drawn to Payton.

Payton gave his number to the boy. "Call me when you are ready for it..." he said, his voice as solemn as his mother's.

Jeffry gently took the number. "Cool..." he put it in his pocket.

Despite his sister's aspirations, Pugsley was happy the way he was, he didn't care if he never found someone. Morticia and Gomez had each other. Wednesday envied her mother at times for being lucky to have someone delightfully dashing and dark as Gomez was.

She wanted to ask her brother something, but she wanted to wait for her other brother to come too so she could have an honest man's opinion. She knew if she asked her father this question, he would agree to it no matter what, him being her father and her being his daughter. Maybe her brothers would react the same, but no one could tell for sure. Pugsley came along, carrying a dead chicken.

"Brother, are you choking the chicken again?" Wednesday asked, passing him in the hall.

Pugsley looked at her. "Just going to prepare it for Lurch." he said.

"Look at you... Kind of adorable..." Wednesday stroked the bird's feathers. "You'll be a great appetizer."

Pugsely went to prepare the chicken.

Wednesday watched him leave and went to her childhood bedroom, sitting on her bed. She smirked as she saw her old headless doll and hugged it. "Maybe the twins have a parent in the class whose a widower with no hope left and is near strapping himself on train tracks..." She decided to ride with Lurch as he drove to pick up the twins from school.

A while later, it was almost time to go home and the children to be picked up. Payton had done his work and was just putting finishing touches to a picture of someone being stabbed. Many of the other boys and girls of the classroom either drew themselves as sportspeople and ballerinas. Quite juvenile of them, though a lot of the more artist kids were making necklaces or bracelets like Alice.

But the four kids seemed to stand out, not just Payton and Penelope. Jeffry was sketching a picture of himself older as a scientist. Penelope was looking around, unsure of what to do. She found painting to be very messy, she thought pencil drawing would smear her skin, she felt uninspired to artwork. Payton finished calmly. He was happy with the picture though he didn't show it at all.

Alice tied the last bit and looked at Penelope. "Hold out your arm..." she said, softly.

Penelope wondered why Alice wanted her to do that, but did so anyway.

Alice looped the bracelet around Penelope's wrist and tied it. "Here, for you." she said.

"Oh, thank you Alice," Penelope smiled. "What is it?" she had never seen, been given, or heard of a friendship bracelet before.

Alice showed her the matching one on her own wrist. "It's a friendship bracelet," she said. "It's a gift from me to show you our friendship."

Ms. Shimmer smiled and looked at the clock, standing up. "Well class, today was fun, we learned a lot today. I hate to see you all go, but it's about time for you to go home and finish your homework until next time tomorrow."

Jeffry put his picture in his backpack and helped the other students clean up to go home. Payton looked calm still. Ms. Shimmer smiled and helped the students outside to either take the school bus home to go home with their parents. Payton fetched the Parasol for himself and Penelope. He barely had a smudge on him from the drawing. Alice then joined them, with the others to leave.

Penelope stood with her brother to get outside with everyone else. "Thanks, Alice... No one's ever given anything to me before, except for my birthday... Payton and Aunt Wednesday gave me a dead mouse." she smiled, rather happily, but not too cheerfully to contrast with her family.

Alice smiled. She looked around as they headed outside. Payton was waiting until they reached the outside door, before he would open the parasol. Penelope felt safe with Alice so she had her brother keep her with them until the girl would see her parent to take her home. Ms. Shimmer also looked to see of a guardian of some type for the Addams twins. Alice and Penelope linked arms together as Payton looked emotionless.

Lurch was watching calmly and driving.

"Hopefully they haven't killed anyone today..." Wednesday said to herself, keeping her eyes dully forward.

Lurch nodded and groaned his agreement. He then parked in front of the school. Wednesday felt relieved and looked among her children's' classmates go home to their parents. She then seemed focused on one mother who looked very familiar to her. She couldn't place it, but she felt like she had seen and known the woman before, despite not really having any friends in her time, even well into adulthood. She preferred the attention and company of her family. The woman had short blond hair, but it was in a very stylish style. She was wearing a pink shirt and a matching skirt. She looked very snobbish too.

Wednesday looked back at the woman. "I suddenly feel hungry for artificially made Girl Scout cookies..." she mumbled to herself, feeling familiar with the woman.

The woman saw that the children were coming out and looked for her daughter. She saw the children her daughter was with and she froze. She then looked around, her gaze falling on Wednesday.

Lurch looked at her.

Wednesday came over, recognizing the woman anywhere, even when they were children. "Amanda Buckman..." she nearly scowled more than usual, her tone was even colder than it had been before.

Amanda gulped and looked at Wednesday. She then sneered, putting on a brave front. "Addams..." she scoffed.

"That's a nice hairstyle," Wednesday said. "Whose corpse did you rip it off of?"

"From a better looking person than you!" Amanda stated with a scowl.

Payton pointed to their parents/aunt. "There..." he stated, unaware of the dreaded reunion between Wednesday and Amanda.

Alice followed the direction in which he pointed with her eyes. Penelope looked in the direction and beamed once she saw their ride home, though it was probably a good idea to stay back for now. Wednesday's fights weren't very a good thing to interrupt, people get hurt, bones get smashed, babies squeal for their mother's protection from the living nightmare they'll never forget. Payton looked like he couldn't care less. Penelope played with her friendship bracelet a bit before they walked over to join Wednesday in going home.

Wednesday rolled her eyes a bit at Amanda's comment. "Excuse me, I have to pick up two children, I'm afraid you're mistaken, the zoo is that way," she pointed in the distance, far away from the school grounds. "I heard a case of a wild holler monkey and her baby let out of their cage."

Amanda snorted a little. "Well, I didn't know you had a partner... Oh, wait. No wedding ring." she said nastily. She then turned to look where her daughter was. "Alice!" she called out.

Alice heard the saying and blinked.

"Payton, Penelope, let's go!" Wednesday nearly yelled for the twins.

Payton looked at Alice calmly. "See you tomorrow..." he stated, he then walked beside his sister, holding the parasol over their heads.

Alice looked apologetically at her new friends. "See you tomorrow..." she said, softly. She then ran over to her mother.

"Thanks for the bracelet Alice." Penelope said as she left with her brother.

Amanda grabbed Alice's arm and started to lead her over into a Ferrari. "I don't want you to hang out with them at all, they are bad people." she said.

Alice looked at her mother. "Mom, they helped look after me today..." she said.

Amanda scoffed. "I don't want you to speak with them again."

"Bad day?" Alice's father, Amanda's husband, asked.

Alice looked at her father. "I made some friends and Mommy doesn't want me to stay friends with them." she told him.

Amanda looked at her husband. "She made friends with the Addams' kids..." she told him as she climbed into the car.

"Amanda..." the man of the car glanced at his wife, driving them home.

Alice strapped her seatbelt on.

Amanda blinked and looked angry. "Their mother was the reason I had to go to ten different therapists!" she informed him.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it," her husband sighed. "You two were only children... Alice, you don't worry, if there's anyone bullying you, you can tell us." he thought maybe it might have been a misunderstanding. Little did he know he was right.

"I know, Daddy," Alice said. "Payton and Penelope are nice, they helped me in school."

"No," Amanda still scowled. "You will have nothing else to do with them."

Amanda's husband sighed and kept driving them home. Hopefully some dinner would calm her down. Alice looked out at the scenery as Amanda looked angry.

"Mandy, it's the first day of school..." the man sighed. "I'm sure things will be fine."

Alice smiled.

Amanda shook her head. "That family is dangerous and weird..." she huffed.

Her husband sighed and kept concentrating on getting them home. He knew nothing about the Addams family, but his wife always told him that they were, in her words, 'a bunch of freaks who shouldn't be trusted'. Alice was happy that she had made friends, no matter what her mother said.

Ms. Shimmer made mental note of the twins' presumed mother and made sure she would conference with them as soon as possible.

Wednesday helped the twins into the car and sat in the car as Lurch drove them home. "Penelope, Payton, that little girl could be dangerous."

Payton looked at his mother. "She could never beat an Addams, mother..." he said.

"That may be so, but be careful, a pretty face can hide an evil mind like that girl's mother... She could have plagued your minds." Wednesday advised.

Penelope took out her arm and showed her friendship bracelet. "We made friends without donated body parts..." she tried to stay on her aunt's good side.

Wednesday couldn't help but wonder if the twins were changing like when her brother was sick with angelic golden blonde hair. It was truly a horrific sight. "Just don't let her get to you." she was inside glad that her 'niece' made a friend, but the girl was related to Amanda, but maybe she could grow to like Alice since the little girl didn't seem to be anything like her mother.

"Oh, I may have a willing victim soon, Mother." Payton informed his mother.

Lurch nodded, impressed.

"On your first day of school? I'm pleased." Wednesday was obviously now in the doting mother phase.

"Yes... A willing victim to experiment on..." Payton told her, the last bit sounding almost gleeful.

Penelope looked out the window, hoping she could still be friends with Alice. She loved her family, but they got boring day after day and she finally had a shot at a real friend in her social class.

"I'm so proud of you." Wednesday said coolly.

"Thank you, Mother." Payton monotoned.

Wednesday kept her eyes forward for the rest of the trip. She would allow the twins to still see Alice, as long as Amanda wasn't involved or Alice wouldn't be too bubbly.

Payton looked out the window. Penelope looked out too. Payton plotted what he would do for his experimentation.

"I just hope that girl doesn't wind up like her mother..." Wednesday mumbled under her breath.

Lurch groaned his agreement.

Penelope looked at her friendship bracelet, admiring it. "It's not like that bracelet Grandmama gave me made out of bones, but it's very pretty."

Payton looked at the bracelet. "It's nice, I guess..." he deadpanned.

Lurch drove them back home.

Wednesday looked back at the twins and saw they had no bruises, scars or blood stains. That was okay, they didn't kill anyone this time. She then looked back as they came back to the family home. "Do you two have any homework?"

"Not yet." Penelope said, plainly.

Payton nodded, agreeing with Penelope.

"Did you make any friends besides the Alice girl?" Wednesday asked, like a typical mother would ask her children about their day at school. She tried her best not to sound smothering.

"Alice is more my friend than Payton's." Penelope answered, nearly staring into space.

Payton looked at his mother. "Would the willing victim count as a friend, Mother?" he asked her.

Penelope didn't think she would use Alice as a victim, but only time would tell.

"But of course." Wednesday assured the boy with approval.

There was a familiar voice on the phone with Morticia, speaking of some adventures in his place at home and wondered if he could come see Penelope and Payton as he hadn't been able to before and had only seen pictures of them.

Morticia smiled calmly. "Yes Itt... You can come around any time, but definitely at the reunion..." she told him.

Gomez was eagerly by the window inside the house, like he were really excited to her about his grandchildrens' first day back to school. He was at first nervous about being a grandfather once the twins came into their lives, but he grew obsessed with them and wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. He grew to really love them. Morticia was helping Grandmama do dinner. She smiled though, as she knew what her husband was doing.

"I can't wait any longer!" Gomez sounded childish waiting for his grandchildren to come home.

"They will be back soon..." Morticia soothed, hearing her husband.

"Yes, I suppose they will..." Gomez relaxed himself. "What's for dinner?"

Grandmama cackled from the kitchen as she cooked one of her favorite dishes.

"Grandmama's specialty." Morticia informed her husband, sounding mysterious.

"A dish to die for." Gomez smirked, pulling out an axe, seemingly from nowhere.

Morticia raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Maybe later..." she said.

"Don't tease me..." Gomez put it down, holding the weapon close for another time.

Morticia winked at him.

Payton and Penelope looked slightly relieved as they got home. Wednesday nearly smirked and she helped the kids out of the car as soon as they were close to the front door. Lurch waited for them to get out of the car before he would go and park up.

Fester smiled as he was at the door and laughed, seeing the twins. "Hello, hello!" he had always admired children, but never really thought of having any of his own, he remembered how excited he was when he got the news about being an uncle for the first time.

Payton looked at Uncle Fester. "Hello, Uncle Fester." he said.

Penelope looked to. "Hi, Uncle Fester." she smiled daintily at him and took out a dying, wilting flower she found on the playground. "Here."

"Oh, thank you." Uncle Fester smiled, taking the flower.

Payton looked at Fester.

"Hey boy." Fester greeted his grand-nephew.

Payton didn't smile, but his eyes showed his pleasure at seeing him. He was so much like Wednesday.

Fester put the flower in his pocket and went to a random room of the house. Wednesday looked at them and went inside to lounge. Pugsley came down and looked at Wednesday. She glanced back at her brother.

Pugsley picked Penelope up and hugged her tightly. "Baby girl!" he announced.

She looked in the direction of where the announcement came from. "Sounds like they're back..."

Wednesday slightly rolled her eyes at Pugsley and Penelope's reunion with cuddling hugs.

Gomez looked excited and went out to meet the children. "Oh, you're back. I hope you're hungry for dinner, you shouldn't spoil your appetite on any school children, you know."

Payton looked at his grandfather. "I regret not having the chance to eat any of them, so it is correct to assume we are hungry..." he said. He then watched his twin get hugged, remaining unmoved.

Pugsley put Penelope down after the hug. Penelope smiled at him, then went to her backpack to show things from school this year. Pugsley watched Penelope with a smile.

"Give it time, boy, your mother didn't eat one of her classmates until she hit puberty." Gomez told him.

"Kid had it coming." Wednesday added to that.

Payton nodded, sagely. "Yes, Mother, Grandfather." he said, looking between his two favorite adults.

Morticia came in, walking gracefully out of the kitchen/family dining room.

"Good afternoon, Grandmother." Payton greeted Morticia.

Morticia smiled at her 'grandson' and patted his head and then stood by Gomez. Wednesday still felt empty. Gomez smiled at Morticia as they both watched the children. Payton went over to his mother, and simply placed his hand in her's. It wasn't over exuberant like a hug, but it wasn't as subtle as just a brush by, but it was his way of showing his affection and comfort. Wednesday looked at him, giving an approving gaze. That was also how she showed comfort.

Morticia looked at the children, it was such a nice scene. Gomez was really happy at the family scene, it was quite precious. Morticia entwined her fingers with Gomez's.

Penelope held out her arm. "My friend Alice calls it a bracelet of friendship." she said proudly.

Pugsley smiled.

"What day is Halloween again?" Penelope asked, looking at the calendar as it was only September and not October. Even if Alice wasn't allowed to celebrate Halloween, she still wanted a way to have Alice in on the fun of her favorite holiday.

"A Friday..." Pugsley answered.

"Oh, Friday's are fun." Penelope sounded excited.

Pugsley nodded.

Payton blinked once and then told Wednesday the scare he had given the teacher. "I purposely smiled at the teacher, causing her to fall over..." he told her, only loud enough for her to hear.

"Did it kill her?" Gomez got excited.

Morticia looked proud of her grandson.

Payton looked almost disheartened, but not quite. "No, after all, you warned us not to kill anybody... But that can be arranged if you wish, Grandfather, Mother..." he said.

"It's not wrong if it was an accident." Gomez smiled sheepishly with a shrug.

Wednesday was very happy inside, she almost formed a smile on the outside. Morticia chuckled slightly.

Payton looked between his mother and his grandfather. "That can also be arranged..." he said.

"Thatta boy." Wednesday said, approvingly.

Gomez gave a thumbs up and heard some painful screams in the kitchen.

"Dinner's gonna be a little late..." Grandmama poked her head from the kitchen, nearly covered with crimson stains.

Morticia looked at Grandmama. "Do you want me to come and help?" she offered.

"If you only want to dear, it's wild tonight." Grand-mama smiled brightly at her, she loved help around the house.

Morticia nodded and kissed Gomez's cheek before, going to help Grandmama.

Grandmama smiled then went back into the kitchen.

"Don't be long..." Gomez said quietly as Morticia went to help with dinner.

Morticia winked at Gomez and followed Grandmama. It always made her feel like the giddy teenager that she was when she fell in love with Gomez, when he reacted positively to her flirtations. Gomez chuckled and grinned at her back. Morticia then disappeared from the room as she fully left it.

Payton looked at Grandmama, he couldn't understand how anyone could be that cheerful, even if it was over things the family liked. He almost smiled, it felt good to get approval of the two people he loved most of his family. However he didn't actually smile, one of the corners of his mouth twitched which was as much of a smile as he gave without forcing it.

"The other girls mostly wanted to play House and have babies..." Penelope sounded disgusted with the little girls in their class who seemed to be obsessed with being so girly and wear makeup all the time or become young mothers with their baby dolls.

"Even this Alice?" Pugsley asked his daughter, shuddering at the thought of Penelope playing those sort of games.

"She actually didn't seem interested in those games," Penelope looked at him. "She made me this bracelet, but when the other girls wanted to play dress up with her, she didn't seem that interested."

Pugsley smiled, relieved. "Okay... That's good..." he said.

"She doesn't even like that horrid mixture between white and red." Penelope continued to further explain about her new friend.

Pugsley shuddered again at the thought of the horrid color. Penelope nodded at him. Pugsley patted his daughter's back gently. Penelope looked up admiringly at her father. Pugsley smiled down at his daughter. He looked deep in thought.

Wednesday looked at her son, biting her lip. "Payton... Have you ever thought about soul mates?"

Payton concentrated on his mother. "Soul mates?" he asked, tilting his head at the slightest fraction.

"If I were to find myself a soul mate, would you mind?" Wednesday asked him.

Payton blinked once. "No, Mother... However, should this person not accept me, I would have to force them to leave." he said.

"Don't worry, I have ways of making others suffer." Wednesday assured him.

Payton nodded once. "Then that is perfectly fine, Mother." he told her.

Wednesday was surprised that went well, now she just had to find herself a suitable mate for herself that would approve of her and Payton. He barely squeezed his mother's hand and then let go planning on possibly going to work on his experiment.

"How about a game before you two get some dinner?" Wednesday suggested.

Payton looked between the direction of his 'lab' and his mother. "What game?" he asked.

"Whatever you want." Wednesday shrugged. "I always enjoyed tying my brother to a wheel and shoot an arrow to the apple I attached to his head."

Payton blinked slowly. "Maybe I could do something similar to Penelope, Mother?"

"I'll have to teach you how to shoot, you're probably old enough now." Wednesday remarked.

Payton nodded, he enjoyed his time where he and his mother would do an activity together. The shooting sounding like it would be good to learn.

"I hope Alice can come to school tomorrow... I should give her something..." Penelope said, wondering what to do for school tomorrow.

"Why don't you give her a heart in a jar?" Gomez suggested. "I gave that to Morticia on our anniversary."

Penelope looked at him, humming. "I don't think so... She doesn't seem like the heart type."

Gomez shrugged and put down a jar that had a still beating heart inside of it.

Lurch came in and had a live spider in his grasp. He heard Penelope's question and offered it as a suggestion.

"Oh, it's so adorable!" Penelope beamed at the spider. "It's not a poisonous one, is it?" she didn't want Alice to get hurt.

Lurch shook his head. It wasn't a poisonous one.

"I don't want Alice to get hurt." Penelope held out her hands to take the spider in her grasp. "Hey, cutie!"

Lurch went to find a container for the spider so Penelope could gift it to Alice.

"Now, what can I do for show and tell?" Penelope asked herself.

Gomez brought the jar back out as an option. "Wile and beguile your peers." he urged her.

Lurch came back in with a jar, with tiny holes poked into the lid, he guessed that Penelope would want to give it to her alive.

"Oh, she's so cute, look at those eyes." Penelope marveled at the extra eyes the arachnid had.

Pugsley chuckled. Lurch smiled and handed the girl the jar.

"Thanks, you're the best." Penelope took the jar with a smile for Lurch.

Lurch smiled back and patted Penelope's head. Penelope giggled a little and went to put the spider in a safe place until school in the morning.

"Reminds me of the one Fester and I found when we'd put it in a little girl's underwear drawer," Gomez smiled at the spider. "Unfortunately that one was poison so we did more than just scare her to death..."

Payton looked at his grandfather. "The spider actually bit her?" he asked, his tone still monotone.

"You could say that." Gomez smiled harmlessly, shrugging his shoulders.

Pugsley looked around almost confused. Lurch looked at the boy and rolled his eyes slightly. Payton stared at Gomez a moment. His second favorite person was still cool. He then looked at his mother.

"How long until dinner's ready?" Wednesday popped her head in the kitchen. If it would be a while, she would take some time to teach Payton how to properly shoot a bow and arrow, if dinner was just about done, they would have to wait until another time.

Morticia looked at Wednesday, not a hair out-of-place. "Not too long now..." she said.

Wednesday looked back at Payton. "Want to start training, my boy?"

"Yes, Mother." Payton said and went up to her.

"We can go outside or the playroom for practice." Wednesday told the boy.

"Playroom?" Payton suggested, nodding.

"Excellent choice, poison arrows or regular?" Wednesday asked like it were a normal question between a parent and child.

"Normal until I gain experience." he told his mother. He looked at his twin and then back to his mother.

"That'll do, Payton, that'll do." Wednesday ruffled up the boy's hair and started to walk to the direction of the playroom she would spend hours with Pugsley when they were children. "This way..." she instructed with an eeire tone of voice as she ventured slowly.

Payton followed her together they looked like they were a funeral procession. He was going to enjoy this and learn so much. Payton followed her together they looked like they were a funeral procession. He was going to enjoy this and learn so much.

"I can't believe a lot of people are afraid of a little thing like you..." Penelope cooed at the spider like it were a fuzzy bunny to a normal child her age. She watched the spider in its little jar.

"Now, Penelope, don't let that thing wander off, we wouldn't want to eat it for dinner by accident." Gomez advised.

"Okay!" Penelope said, looking entranced by the spider, she always thought they were so cute and fluffy.

Wednesday took out her old bow and arrow. "These sure do bring back memories..."

"What happened, Mother?" he asked her. His eyes glinted at the sight of the dangerous weapon.

"I often strapped your uncle to a wheel and I'd shoot apples off his head," Wednesday explained, looking down at him, emotionless. "I used to do it to my dolls before he was old enough to walk."

Payton nodded. "Sounds unpleasant..." he said, though the way he said it was like that it was good.

"Indeed," Wednesday collected more arrows for him to practice with. "Ah, youth..."

Payton tested the bow, blinking.

"It should still be in good shape." Wednesday told him, seeing how old her first bow and arrow set were.

"It is quite sturdy, Mother." Payton soothed his mother.

"They should be fine for you to test with, you're still too young for razor-sharp points." Wednesday advised.

"Yes, Mother..." Payton agreed.

Wednesday went to set up a test target with an old doll. She then went to Payton, telling him proper procedures to ready, aim, and fire and how to hold the bow and arrow. Payton followed his mother's directions.

"What I do is visualize something or someone I want to perish immediately," Wednesday coached. "Think of a nuisance at school as an exercise."

Payton nodded and lined up his shot, he then visualized it was Ms Shimmer.

"Aim right on target." Wednesday continued.

Payton nodded and aimed for where he had her heart pictured. He then released his arrow.

Wednesday watched as the arrow hit right on target. "Seems you are far more advanced than I took you to, my boy."

"I imagined that the target was my teacher," Payton monotonously said. "Even her name is a crime to humanity..."

"How repulsive is it?" Wednesday asked.

Payton looked at her, sounding like her exactly. "It's worse than...Mr. Brightside," he said. "It's... Ms. Shimmer..."

Wednesday shuddered suddenly as she heard that name. "How unfortunate... Her parents must have hated her."

Payton nodded.

"We'll settle her when the time is right." Wednesday told him.

"Of course, Mother..." Payton told her.

Pugsley came up to his daughter.

Penelope petted the spider and found a fly. "Hello, Mr. Fly, I hope you don't mind, but Miss Spider is hungry." she told the fly, grabbing it by its wings and putting it through one of the air holes in the jar to allow the spider to devour it.

Pugsley grinned.

Penelope smiled and looked up. "Do you think Alice would like it?"

"She should do." Pugsley told her with a nod.

Morticia came out of the kitchen. "Dinner is ready..." she said, her voice carrying eerily through all the halls.

Wednesday then she heard her mother's voice. "Time for dinner. Put up the bow and arrow for later."

Payton put them carefully aside. He then followed his mother.

"Dinner..." Penelope smiled, walking inside the other room to eat with everyone. Meal time was always her favorite part of the day from breakfast, lunch, and dinner, sometimes if she were lucky, dessert.

Pugsley followed his daughter.


	6. Family Values

Morticia was laying out the bowls of the food. "Hansel pie with Gretal finger fries." she stated.

Wednesday went to her spot and got herself settled. Fester took his spot beside Wednesday like he always would when they would eat together.

Payton sat on her other side. Pugsley sat next to Penelope.

"Those foolish children," Gomez shook his head. "That poor witch... All she wanted was a snack."

"What a way to go." Penelope told him, getting herself settled.

Morticia sighed softly. "This is why we're eating them now... For that poor witch..."

"Why did the children have to be so mean?" Penelope asked sadly.

"They're selfish, a lot of them are, especially when you give them a whole sugary house to eat." Wednesday told her, looking sharply and directly into her eye, never changing her emotionless state.

Payton looked at his mother and then his twin. "Never give too much, not until you know they won't destroy you..." he warned.

Pugsley patted Penelope's head gently.

"So, that's the deadly sin of greed!" Penelope sounded familiar.

Morticia sat down. "Well, let's give the witch a last respect and take revenge on the ones who killed her..." she said.

"Yes, we shall." Wednesday agreed to her mother.

"Amen." Gomez bobbed his head, getting ready for the rather dark family prayer before their meal.

Payton and Pugsley both nodded. Morticia nodded and looked around at her husband. Lurch barely ever ate and so he got everyone drinks. The family shared a dark prayer and helped themselves to some dinner.

"Could we have some extra on our plate? We're starving from school." Penelope spoke up as her and Payton's plates didn't have a lot of food on them.

"What do we say...?" Gomez prompted them to use their family manners.

"Now..." Payton monotoned.

Lurch served them all something steaming.

Morticia smiled and nodded.

"That's the spirit, old boy!" Gomez praised.

Payton started to eat his food. He felt inwardly happy at how he made his grandfather happy. Wednesday felt sudden shivers of nostalgia when she heard Payton say that and started to eat her food herself. Penelope smiled as she was served and started eating. Lurch smiled slightly. Morticia smiled too.

"So, what's going on in school so far?" Grandmama asked, making conversation. She had to be the light of the whole party if surrounded by Addamses that their guests would go through.

"Penelope made a female friend, and I'll soon have a willing victim." Payton said.

"That's lovely," Grandmama smiled. "I can't believe you are both in grades now, seems like only yesterday you came into our lives and your parents raised you.. Does anything happen tomorrow?"

"Show and Tell," Penelope said. "I'm just not sure what to bring though..."

"How about some dynamite?" Fester offered. "I used to play with it all the time when i was your age!"

Gomez chuckled at that.

Payton looked at his twin. "That could be interesting..." he said, emotionless.

Pugsley chucked too.

"How about your first birthday body part?" Morticia suggested. She ate some of her food.

Penelope thought about it. "This is hard... What're you gonna bring, Payton?"

"I have no clue yet." Payton said, stoically.

Pugsley looked at his daughter. "Uncle Fester's idea sounds good." he said.

"I'll try not to lose them, Uncle Fester." Penelope told the man.

"I don't mind, really," Fester smiled at her. "I'll show you after you're done eating."

Pugsley smiled at his uncle.

"I wanted to bring in a severed head once, but the teacher didn't like it since I brought my axe into school the day before for a demonstration." Wednesday recollected a faint memory from her childhood.

"Is there a body part you suggest, Mother?" Payton asked her.

"Well, the head's out," Wednesday said as she was stabbing her meat rather than cutting it with a knife like a normal person. "Would you like an internal organ or a outer organ?"

Payton looked at her. "Internal." he said, stabbing his fork into the pie.

"People these days just don't understand family tradition unless its their own." Gomez told her, sipping his drink.

Morticia nodded to agree with Gomez.

"We were the lucky few who survive the old ball and chain..." Gomez told Morticia.

Morticia smiled.

"I think your grandfather has a child's heart in a jar somewhere..." Wednesday thought out loud, going into deep thinking.

"Some relatives are going to come over and meet you both," Gomez told the twins. "Won't that be exciting?"

"Who's coming?" Penelope's eyes lit up, the icy blue shining in excitement.

Payton looked at Gomez.

"It's a surprise..." Morticia said, coyly.

Pugsley chuckled.

Penelope awwed in defeat and sunk in her chair, crossing her arms.

"Sorry, my lips are sealed." Gomez waved a finger.

Payton nodded, accepting they wouldn't say.

"So were my husband's," Grandmama added to that. "Our wedding vows were complicated to understand."

"Yes, I remember Father." Morticia said with a smile.

Grandmama smiled tenderly at Morticia and her whole family, she felt so blessed.

Morticia looked at them all.

"I assure you, it'll be fun once it comes, my dear." Gomez smiled at little Penelope.

"Can we go out when we're done real quick? I couldn't do it in school." Penelope asked him.

Gomez nodded at her, knowing what she was getting at. "I know how you feel."

Payton looked, after finishing his food. He grabbed the lighter out of his pocket. Penelope took out her cigarette and Gomez took out his cigar.

"Don't over do it now, Penelope, you're still six." Wednesday advised.

"Yes, Aunt Wednesday." Penelope nodded at her, respectfully.

"They grow up so fast..." Grandmama nearly weeped.

Payton waited to go out and light their smokes.

Morticia handed Grandmama a handkerchief.

Grandmama smiled at her daughter and delicately wiped her eyes. "Thank you, my dear."

Penelope and Gomez stood up and went outside to take their smoke break. Even though Payton didn't seem to be the smoking type, he seemed to like having that little time with them. He's not just a little ball of hate, he inside deeply cares about his family. Payton went with his twin and grandfather. Wednesday watched the twins leave and nearly cracked a smile on her face, seeing as how quickly they adjusted into the family and she was a mother.

Pugsley watched them go too. "Seems like just yesterday Penelope was slipping snakes into Payton's bed, and Payton was swapping toys with sharp objects..." he sighed.

"Payton bit me when I was feeding him some formula." Wednesday added in reminisce.

Pugsley chuckled. "Same here..." he said.

"You two used to bite your mother every time she breast-fed you," Grandmama told them with a smile.

Morticia nodded. "One time I was made sore for days." she smiled fondly in remembrance.

"Your welcome." Wednesday told her mother.

Morticia patted Wednesday's hand.

"Of course, I bit the hardest," Wednesday said smugly. "I once made you bleed, Mother."

Morticia chuckled. "True...Now, shall we feed Swampy the leftovers?" she asked.

Wednesday's face lit up. "But of course!"

"I'm going to bed a little early... Tell everyone who missed me good night." Grandmama stood up.

Lurch started to take away the plates that were empty.

"Sure, but we need to get the children into bed afterwards." Pugsley said.

Morticia nodded and stood up.

"School can take a lot out of ya." Wednesday added.

Grandmama smiled and went to her room to get herself for an early night.

"Well, I think I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight like always, didn't you hear me guys screaming and crying last night?" Fester chuckled.

Pugsley looked at Fester.

"Of course we did Fester... You must have had some delightful nightmares..." Morticia informed her brother-in-law.

Both Gomez and Penelope got their light and started to take their smokes. Payton put the lighter away. Gomez smiled and patted Payton's head. Penelope smirked at her brother, then let out a puff of smoke. Payton endured the patting, as it was from his second favorite adult. His eyes looked at Penelope promising pain for the smirk, as they often did if one annoyed the other.

Penelope looked back at him, feeling the same way and decided to get even with him. She remembered the one time her father told her when he and Wednesday were children, he at one time bared a chopping axe against her, but he was told to put it away. There was no violence at the table until after dinner. This was their usual thing, as all Addams children did. They would try to kill each other though it never worked. Penelope took one last breath and sighed.

"Alright, let's get inside, you two." Gomez smiled as he finished his light for the night.

Payton went ahead first. He wanted a head start on paying back Penelope.

"Hey, no fair!" Penelope ran after him.

Gomez chuckled at the twins and went back inside.

Payton didn't show any emotion, just continued ahead.

Fester laughed a bit and stretched a little. "Wednesday, Pugsley, don't stay up too late now."

Wednesday nodded at him and saw in the corner of her eye that the twins were coming back inside with Gomez.

"Yes, Uncle Fester." Pugsley said, nodding.

Penelope and Gomez then set their smoking products back for until later and went to collect themselves elsewhere until the twins would have to go to bed. Payton headed straight for the weapons hanging on the wall. Morticia watched the twins. She saw that Payton was heading to the weapons and shook her head fondly. Fester smiled and went off to get some sleep with pleasant screams. Penelope knelt next to the guillotine for dolls and put in one of her dolls Pugsley got her for birthdays or Christmases and placed the head in, happily slicing the heads off.

Gomez smiled and went to Morticia. "I missed you..."

Wednesday glanced at her parents again, studying her mother's habits to see if she could use those as a skill to catch herself a man.

Morticia smiled up at her husband. "Such sweet sorrow...I missed you too." she said in her usual way of speaking to Gomez.

"For about 45 seconds my life lost all meaning..." Gomez whispered to her about his time away from her, though he did enjoy his time with the twins.

Morticia shivered slightly. "My life was a deep void that led nowhere..." she whispered back, though she also loved spending time with her family.

"Only life without you would be torture." Gomez whispered darkly.

Morticia turned to face him and was mere inches away. "Oh, Mon Chere." she breathed.

"Cara Mia..." Gomez said deeply.

Morticia reached up and kissed Gomez passionately on the lips. Oh how she loved this delightfully dark and romantic man.

Payton lifted off a machete. He tested the weight and the sharpness. He then started to make his way to Penelope. Pugsley looked at Payton and chuckled. It was the same thing that Wednesday would try to do to him. Penelope was about to do another doll, but she felt a cold chill down her spine once Payton was behind her. Wednesday smirked in faint memory. Though the twins didn't resemble the siblings physically, their personalities nearly made this seem like a gender-bent flashback into childhood.

Payton looked emotionless as he lifted up the machete. "Hello, Penelope..." he stated.

"Payton..." Penelope said, nearly scared but not like an average mortal, she was more along the lines of surprised.

Payton looked emotionless still. "Time to reap my payment for your smirking at me..." he said, about to bring down the machete.

Penelope ducked and rolled, taking out a different blade. "You dare challenge me?"

"I dare..." he said, monotonously. He swung the machete at her.

Penelope smirked and their blades clashed together like the family's old-fashioned sword fights. She then heard her father and decided to get her leftovers with them.

Pugsley looked at the leftovers. "We forgot we were meant to feed Swampy." he said.

"Oh, right!" Wednesday grabbed her plate of leftovers. "Come on, we better hurry before Swampy tries to eat your head...Again."

Pugsley looked over his shoulder. "Let's go and feed Swampy." he told the children.

Wednesday went ahead and took her plate away.

Pugsley glanced at the children, then his parents, then the children again. "Now..." he said, forcefully.

"Come Payton." Wednesday demanded.

Payton looked at his mother and placed the blade down. He then got his leftovers and followed his mother. Pugsley took Penelope's hand. Penelope looked back at her brother, then looked back forward. Wednesday looked at Payton, then walked with him to take care of the leftovers. They all reached the swamp in good time. Pugsley still held Penelope's hand so that Swampy couldn't pull her in. Swampy often liked to pull people in and try to eat them. Payton waited for Swampy to be called. Penelope looked up securely at her father as he held her hand with her plate in her free hand. She didn't seem brave as the other members in her family.

"Dinner time!" Wednesday called, setting her plate down.

Payton put his down too.

"I won't let him drag you in." Pugsley soothed his daughter.

Penelope smiled at him as she put her plate down.

A mud colored tentacle slid out of the swamp slowly.

Wednesday put her hand on Payton's shoulder as Swampy went to take his leftover dinner. Pugsley watched. Payton looked at his mother and then Swampy. Swampy's head popped out as he pulled the food on the plates towards him. Wednesday stared with an emotionless face. She looked back down at Payton as he watched the feasting for the hungry creature of the Addams family.

Penelope watched, looking a little nervous at times. She had done this before, yes, but she was often worried Swampy would run loose and probably eat her and her family. Pugsley squeezed her hand comfortingly. Payton watched, entranced by the swamp creature. Swampy ate the leftovers and then a couple of tentacles snuck out, the children looking both fun and appetizing.

Penelope felt a little safe once she had comfort from Pugsley. Though, she looked scared once the tentacles came out for her and her brother.

"Isn't it just wonderful?" Wednesday murmured as the creature ate voraciously.

Payton nodded. "Yes, Mother..." he agreed.

Pugsley kicked at Swampy's tentacle that aimed for Penelope. "Bad Swampy..." he said.

Swampy withdrew the tentacle after Penelope, but got the one after Payton around the boy's ankle. He was feeling playful but a little upset that Pugsley wouldn't let him pull the girl in to play. Penelope averted her eyes on the swamp creature of the house. Wednesday looked at Swampy for reaching for Payton. Pugsley hugged Penelope. She buried her face in his clothes in the tight hug.

Payton looked at the tentacle around his ankle. "I wouldn't recommend it, Swampy..." he said.

Swampy watched Wednesday and tugged on Payton's ankle a little.

Wednesday looked amused from the boy's remark. "Swampy, release NOW." she demanded, sharply.

The swamp creature gave a mist of disappointment. However, it did retract it's tentacle and submerge itself again.

Payton picked up his and Wednesday's plates, nonplussed that Swampy had wanted to drag him in and either play with or eat him. "Farewell Swampy... And thank you, Mother." he said, solemnly.

Wednesday nodded at him, then looked at the time. "You two may go in the playroom for an hour, but then you must get ready for bed."

Pugsley smiled down at his daughter. "It's okay now, Swampy has gone back." he said.

Penelope looked and sighed peacefully with a smile. "I wasn't scared." she stated, simply.

Pugsley chuckled.

Payton nodded and looked at Penelope. "Okay..." he said, planning to continue where they left off earlier.

Penelope smiled at him, then went to play with her twin. Payton went to get his weapon from earlier, he didn't want to kill her any more but he wanted to continue the battle.

Wednesday watched them leave and looked at her brother, nearly smiling. "I never would have imagined myself with a child without sending it away or eating it, but the twins really grew on me."

Pugsley nodded. "Yeah, I'm just glad they liked us from when they were babies." he said.

"They have adjusted well..." Wednesday agreed. "Do you think we should tell them where they came from?"

"Maybe when they're a little older." Pugsley said.

"I just thought it would be good for them to know." Wednesday explained her statement.

"Yeah, when they're a couple of years older." Pugsley nodded, agreeing.

"Seems safe enough." Wednesday settled on that.

Pugsley nodded.

Wednesday agreed, then stretched a little. She waved some hair behind her ear and a random, silver hair seemed to sprout from the endless raven locks.

Pugsley looked at Wednesday, his eyes widening, he then grinned. "Uh, Wednesday...?" he said, and pointed to the hair.

"What?" Wednesday raised an eyebrow at him. Her voice, sounding like the annoyed way to ask that than a pleasant, curious one. She then glanced at some of her hair and saw it was black just like it should be just as it is, then she nearly gasped in fright as she saw a silver hair. But, she was too young, wasn't she? She could not had been old enough to get gray hairs and she was rarely stressed.

Pugsley looked at it too. "It's cool." he said.

"It means I'm getting old..." Wednesday frowned a lot more than usual.

Pugsley shook his head.

"After all, you're a lot of trouble." Wednesday told him, a little joking with where the hair came from.

Pugsley glared. "Take that back!" he said, darkly.

Wednesday only looked at him slightly, then back down darkly. "No, I don't think I will."

Pugsley walked back inside. He was going to grab a poison.

Wednesday shrugged and walked off. She saw her parents. "Can you make sure the twins get to bed? I feel like I want an early night."

"If that's what you want, dearest." Gomez said, not sounding quite tired.

Penelope was playing with the dolls again like Pugsley would before Wednesday would tell him they would be playing a game.

"Penelope... Do you want to play a game?" Payton asked, the machete behind his back.

Penelope stood up from her spot and went to her twin's side. "What game are we playing?"

Payton looked at her. "How about Battle Royale?" he suggested, bringing out the machete.

"How do you play?" Penelope had never heard of that one, even if she was raised in the Addams family household.

Payton looked at her. "Get your weapon choice..." he started.

Penelope nodded and went to choose a weapon. She took out a toy chest which was actually loaded with things like blades, arrows, darts, battle axes, swords, and many other torturous devices. She looked at them all in deep thought and took out an axe which looked like it could slice anyone instantly by a single throw or swift of injury against the delicate living soul.

Payton nodded. "Prepare yourself..." he warned and then ran at her, swinging the machete.

Penelope took out the axe, as if she really wanted to murder him right then and there.

Payton looked at her. "Battle Royale... The last person standing wins..." he said.

Penelope looked at him and offered her hand for them to shake before they would start. Payton shook her hand then released it and swung the machete at her, aiming to maim not kill. Penelope stepped back and nearly dodged the machete to cut her and aimed near her brother. Payton blocked the blade. Penelope grunted a bit from the dodge and charged to stab Payton in the stomach. Payton dodged again, barely, and went to nick her shoulder with his weapon. Penelope ducked down and pulled back the rug they were both on, to make Payton trip and trick him for once. Payton, who was starting to get bored with how they were too in tune to dodge each others attacks, allowed this and allowed his fall to the floor. However he kept his hold on the machete.

"Give up?" Penelope stood over him, feeling victorious.

Payton looked up at her and deadpanned. "I got bored... So this time will be the only time I admit defeat..." he said, blankly.

"This is kinda boring, isn't it?" Penelope asked, withdrawing her weapon.

Payton got up and nodded. "Yes..." he agreed.

"I'm sure once we have playmates that these games will be a lot more fun." Penelope suggested.

Payton nodded. He then looked at the clock. "Shall we go and say good night to Grandfather and Grandmama?" he asked, meaning Morticia, not Great-Grandmama.

Penelope hid a yawn as she agreed. "Lets." she walked to the doorway to leave the playroom. "Ladies first."

Payton followed. He however went ahead remembering where they left their grandparents. Penelope let him going first slide and just followed him. She had always looked up to him, probably because he was a little older than her.

Gomez was in the back playing one of his favorite games. "Fore!"

"Damn you, Addams!"

Payton looked at Morticia first. "Goodnight Grandmama... Sweet screams..." he said, emotionless.

Penelope went with him before going to their grandfather. "Good night, Grandmama, pleasant nightmares."

Morticia smiled at them. "Sleep like the dead, and if the bed bugs bite you, bit them back." she told them.

Payton nodded. "Yes, Grandmama..." he said. He then led Penelope to where Gomez was.

Penelope went to Gomez as he was getting ready for another shot to disturb the neighbors. "Good night, Grandpa."

Gomez looked down at her and her brother with a smile. "Bad dreams, my little ones."

Payton's mouth corners twitched a bit. "Rest in peace, Grandfather." he said, emotionless. "Come Penelope, before Mother and Uncle Pugsley discover we aren't in our rooms yet..." he then said in the same tone of voice.

Penelope nodded and went to her brother to get ready for bed with him. She really looked up to him, even if he was a few moments older than her. She seemed to look up to almost every male older than her in the house, especially him and Gomez.

The man smiled at the children. The night was young, so were they, but they needed their rest for another day.

Payton took her hand to take her to her room first. He liked to aim to hurt her by maiming but inside he loved his Twin. He would destroy anyone who would try to harm her.

"Night night." Penelope told her twin, yawning a bit and went to get herself ready for bed in her room.

Payton nodded. "Rest in peace, Penelope..." he said and then headed to bed himself.

"Rest in peace, Payton." Penelope said back, then crawled into her pajamas and bed. Though she had been raised by Pugsley, she wrapped her arms around herself in her bed and slept on her back like Wednesday would as a child. Penelope yawned in her frilly night-gown that nearly looked like her grandmother's every day clothing, but more comfy for a child.

Payton went and changed into his nightshirt and then got into bed himself. He slept flat on his back like Lurch. Payton blew out his candle and then slept with his eyes open as usual.

Pugsley found some poison and smiled happily. He headed to Wednesday's room. "Oh, Wednesday..." he said, eerily.

"What is it now?" Wednesday asked, brushing her hair down for her to go to bed without worrying about her styled up hair for the day.

Pugsely grinned, manically. "I have a drink for you..." he said.

"Shaken not stirred?" Wednesday joked.

"Of course..." he said and then handed her the blanked out bottle.

Wednesday took the bottle and took a deep inhale. Pugsley smirked waiting for her to drink it. Of course it wouldn't kill her but it would give her a pained stomach for a day or two.

Wednesday glanced at him. "What is it?"

Pugsley just smiled. "It's a special treat." he said.

Wednesday looked at him and folded her arms with a smirk. "Where's yours?"

"Drank it downstairs." Pugsley replied, smoothly.

Wednesday kept the slimy smirk. "Is this gonna keep me up all night with guilt-trip induced nightmares for everything horrible I've ever done to you?"

"No..." Pugsley replied, truthfully.

"Darn, oh well," Wednesday took the drink anyway. "Bottoms up." she was on her way to sip the drink down.

Pugsley watched eagerly. Wednesday sipped a little and smirked, not seeming to be affected by it.

Pugsley smiled. "Good nightmares, Wednesday..." he said and walked off.

Wednesday smirked, then turned to spit the drink out. "That tastes too much like poison." she sounded familiar as though she had drank the substance before.

Pugsley didn't notice.

Wednesday got herself to her room and she stared out the window. She still felt deep down lonely and wanted to find herself a mate as her mother would put it too to become a 'man-eater'. Her parents were lucky to find each other to be as dark and mysterious as themselves, she never had a boyfriend in her childhood, even when she was old enough to date. She liked being alone in school, but once she hit puberty and frightened a lot of boys from her, it actually hurt her inside. If Amanda Buckman could find herself a man, how hard could it be for plain old Wednesday Addams?


	7. Show and Tell

The night passed with little troubles. The next morning was fine too and soon the Twins were in school and it was about time for Show and Tell. Alice was sitting next to Penelope looking a little upset. Her mother didn't want her to be friends with Penelope. Payton patted his satchel that was on his lap. There was a weird noise coming from the bag. Jeffry had a book of course. Several of the boys had action figures and toy cars and several of the girls had dolls. Jeffry had a book of course. Payton looked at the teacher calmly. He was looking forward to showing what he had brought.

Penelope looked back at Alice, holding her bag. "I got you something." she whispered gently to her friend.

Alice looked at Penelope and smiled gently. "Really?" she whispered back.

"I'll show you later if you want." Penelope told her.

Alice smiled.

"Who wants to go first?" Ms. Shimmer asked. She noticed that Payton looked eager, and she shuddered, going to someone else's direction. "Uhh... Emily!" she pointed to one of the girls who brought a doll.

Emily hid under her desk. "I'm shy..."

"Come now, Emily, it'll be nice for someone normal to go first." Ms. Shimmer smiled.

Payton's mouthed twitched, slightly. Penelope took out her jar and looked at the spider with a smile while Alice was talking with the teacher. Jeffry looked at Payton, very curious of what he brought.

Alice looked at Ms. Shimmer then. "Ms. Shimmer, my daddy is a lawyer and he told me words like that are discrim...Crim..." she trailed off at the word a bit too much for her at that age.

"Discrimination?" Ms. Shimmer asked, helping her with the adult vocabulary.

Emily still hid under her desk, feeling a bit scared to go in front of everyone.

"Yeah, that." Alice nodded. She was trying to protect her friends.

Payton looked slightly bored at the fact Ms. Shimmer wasn't allowing him to go first. Penelope smiled that Alice had stuck up for her and her twin.

Ms. Shimmer released a sharp sigh. "Very well... Payton, you go first."

Jeffry seemed interested in what Payton possibly had to show and tell about. He wasn't very open about it, but he had wanted to be Payton's friend, but Payton didn't seem like to be the type that was open for friendship just yet. Alice looked interested.

Payton stood up and took his satchel to the front. He then pulled out the jar with the heart in. "This is an actual human heart my grandfather gave me to show you." he said, blandly.

Ms. Shimmer turned pale instantly. What kind of family did these children come from? "Uhh... Where did that come from, Payton?" he asked, sheepishly.

Payton looked at her. "It was a present that my grandfather recieved..." he explained.

"Cool!" Jeffry brightened up, excited.

Penelope smiled, proud of her brother. A lot of the girls cringed, some boys were interested, but one felt sick to his stomach. Alice looked really intrigued.

"Oh... that's... very special..." Ms. Shimmer said, really paling. "Next!" she cried.

Penelope held her jar close. She thought maybe she could surprise Alice with the spider as her project and then maybe give it to Alice for later.

Jeffry decided to go next and he showed his book. "This is a Stephen Hawking book... He's one of the smartest people in the world. My dad had this book when he was a kid and he let me borrow it, I wish I could be smart like them both when I grow up."

Payton looked at Jeffry, so this boy really did want to expand his mind... Interesting... Alice looked at Jeffry, smiling though not as wide as when Payton was doing his show and tell, she had decided to disobey her mother and stay friends with Penelope.

"Thank you, Jeffry, do we have anyone else?" Ms. Shimmer asked, looking at the brighter colored clothed children and not the two kooky and creepy students in the classroom.

Jeffry took his book and went to sit back down next to Payton.

Payton looked at Jeffry. "That was...Interesting..." he muttered, emotionlessly.

"Thanks." Jeffry half smiled at Payton.

Payton nodded and then looked ahead. Penelope hadn't gone yet, but she stayed sitting still. Alice smiled at Penelope. She then raised her hand, deciding to do it so that maybe Penelope would be up for doing it too.

Ms. Shimmer looked around the class, then noticed the friendly girl. "Alice?"

Penelope looked at Alice gently and played with her loose ends of her hair before Alice stood up in front of everyone to present her project. Alice stood up and went to show her thing. She held up a dress and went into a slightly annoyed sounding speech about how it was one of her mom's new line of clothing. Penelope cringed a little at the dress, but was happy for Alice.

"Thank you, Alice that was special," Ms. Shimmer smiled fondly. "Anyone else? No? Well, I guess it's time for recess!" she stood up from her desk, ignoring Penelope.

The other students cheered and went to stand in a line for the door.

Alice came over and shoved the dress away. "My mom made me bring it... And I think it's mean the way Ms. Shimmer acts toward you." she said.

"You didn't seem like the dressy type to me." Penelope remarked to Alice.

Alice crossed their arms and stayed with them. She smiled at Penelope though. "My mother practically forced me to bring it." she said.

Penelope hummed at that. Payton looked disgusted at Ms. Shimmer and gave his most terrifying glare.

Ms. Shimmer froze at his glare. She then instantly broke the fire alarm to make a loud ring fill the classroom. "Oh, look at that, it's a fire drill, everyone single file and get out of the room... Um... Addams twins? You stay." she told the twins and quickly rushed out the normal children including Jeffry and Alice.

"What about Penelope and Payton?" Jeffry asked, overwhelmed.

Payton started to play with the lighter, flicking it on.

Penelope then raised her hand. "Ms. Shimmer, I still haven't gone."

"How sad," Ms. Shimmer said sadly, but had a smile on her face. "Maybe tomorrow, honey."

Alice glared at the woman. "I'm staying with Penelope and Payton." she said.

Payton looked almost murderous, a dangerous glint in his eye as he kept turning the lighter on and off.

Ms. Shimmer glanced at the girl. "Alice, I wouldn't want to have to send you to the principal's office for your poor behavior..." she said, lightly threatening the child.

Penelope sat coldly, glaring at the teacher, it wasn't as dangerous as Payton, but she was still pretty ticked and dark as her family nature.

Alice just sunk further in her chair. "And you may get a letter from my lawyer." she retorted.

Payton looked at his lighter and then ahead of the teacher. "Maybe I'll start off by setting your car on fire." he deadpanned to the teacher.

Ms. Shimmer grunted. "Fine, Penelope, you show us your thing... And make sure it stays in that jar."

Penelope looked into it and shook it. "Where did she go?" she asked herself quietly about the spider.

Payton stopped messing with the lighter, but it was still in his hand.

Alice looked at her. "What was it?" she asked quietly.

"A spider." Penelope answered, like it was a normal thing for a child her age to have lying around.

"A spider?" Alice said. "Cool."

"Alright, let's all stay calm and look for the spider, "Ms. Shimmer told them, unknowing that the spider had been crawling on her head. "Whoever that is, stop tickling me please!"

Payton looked at the spider. "I believe there is actually no person behind you." he said, his voice devoid of any emotion again.

"There she is!" Penelope pointed.

Ms. Shimmer looked up at the spider crawling on her head and she let out a scream, then fainted suddenly.

"Oh, no!" Penelope rushed to her teacher's side and cupped the spider in her hands. "Poor thing, must be scared half to death..."

Alice blinked, but giggled gently at Ms. Shimmer fainting. She then went over to Penelope to look at the spider.

Payton looked at Jeffry. "Help me bind the teacher and put her in the closet." he ordered, suggesting. It was his way of offering to get to know the boy a little.

"Should I gag her too?" Jeffry asked with a rather creepy looking smile.

Payton nodded. He pulled out some rope from a bag he had and started to tie Ms. Shimmer up. Ms. Shimmer grunted a bit as she was tied up. Jeffry grabbed a bandana from one of the students' desks and rolled it up into a ball and shoved it into the teacher's mouth.

"JEFFRY!" she mumbled, muffingly.

Payton pulled the teacher to the closet and shoved her in before shutting the door. The other students gasped in true shock.

Payton looked at them, unemotionally. "I just did what we were all wanting to do..." he drawled.

Emily came into her seat and looked angry with Payton. "I'm telling!"

Payton shrugged unaffected about Emily's words. He sat down again and looked as content as ever.

 

Penelope smiled at Alice and showed the spider. "This is my show and tell project, I'd also like you to keep her as a present. You're not scared?" she noticed that a lot of 'normal' people were afraid of spiders whether children or adults.

"Will she bite me? If not, then no, I'm not scared..." Alice told her friend, holding out a finger to touch the spider.

"Don't worry, I trained her to not bite anyone nice to me, so you, Payton and my family are in good hands." Penelope smiled delicately.

Alice smiled and gently petted the spider.

"I think she likes you." Penelope said to her new best friend.

The spider formed no emotion, being a spider, but looked deeply focused on the new girl. Alice looked at the spider, smiling.

"I don't think she has a name, she's probably new in our house, you can call her whatever you want though." Penelope said with a charming smile.

Alice smiled and held out her hand for the spider. "How about Charlotte?" she suggested.

The spider crawled from Penelope's hands to Alice's free hand.

Penelope giggled a little from the eight legs tickling her and smiled. "Charlotte, that's an interesting name."

Alice smiled. "So cute..." she said softly as she gently held the spider.

Penelope smiled at her and looked at her brother. "What do we do now without a teacher?" she sounded more concerned about the teacher than the classroom as the class sat nervously around Payton.

"Recess isn't for another hour..." Jeffry reminded them.

"We could take a leaf out of my mother's book, a load of fun in the classroom." Payton said.

Jeffry paid attention to Payton, interested about the book.

Alice petted the spider, smiling at Penelope. "I love her, she's so cute." she said.

"I think so too," Penelope smiled back at her. "Just be sure she gets enough flies and other nuisance insects she may have a hunger for."

Alice nodded. "I promise to... I just hope she doesn't escape around my mom." she said.

Penelope giggled a little at the thought of Amanda being caught with the creature. "Let's hope." she then said.

"We could paint the room, and if anyone objects, we can tie them to chairs..." Payton said, calmly.

Emily shivered and hid under her desk. "I WANT MY MOMMY!"

"She's not here." Jeffry said to her, simply.

Payton smirked scarily. "Who wants to join in?" he asked.

Alice looked at Payton. "Me and Lopie (low-pea) are playing with Charlotte." she said.

"Sorry Payton, we'll sit this one out." Penelope told her brother.

"I'll join!" Jeffry volunteered himself. He showed zero fear around the boy now.

Some of the other's wanted to join so Payton wouldn't tie them up. Payton nodded. He got the paints out and handed them out. Alice took Penelope to the corner to play with the spider. Penelope went with Alice and did their own thing while Payton did his thing.

Payton was acting as Leader, tying up some of those who opposed him. Alice giggled as the spider tickled her.

"Remember not to be too rough," Penelope advised. "She's more scared of us than anyone else is of her."

"Okay..." Alice said, softly.

Penelope smiled. Alice stroked the spider gently. The spider was very calm in Alice's hand.

"I think you two will get along just fine." Penelope said, smiling.

Payton then sat as the other's helping continued the work.

The school principal was walking around the school halls and was to inspect the classes today. He saw what was happening from behind the closed-door of Ms. Shimmer's classroom. He then decided he needed to make some personal phone calls in his office and directly went to the Addams family number and called them, seeming a bit angered.

 

Morticia answered the phone. "Hello?" she asked.

"Is this Penelope and Payton's mother?" the principal asked, sounding obviously peeved.

Morticia raised her eyebrow. "No, I'm their grandmother..." she said, her voice eerie.

"Oh," the principal was surprised how well Morticia sounded for her age. "Well, are their parents around? This matter concerns the Addams twins."

Morticia blinked. "One moment..." she said and then placed the phone to the side and went to get Wednesday.

The principal waited patiently for the woman to fetch her daughter.

Wednesday was reading a book, curled up by the fireplace and smiling with the completely unhappy ending of everyone leaving to die, injured without food or water.

Morticia knocked on the door and walked in. "Wednesday... The principal wants to talk to you..." she said.

Wednesday sighed and gently shut the book. "This better be good... Thank you, Mother." she left the room and went to talk with the principal as instructed.

Morticia nodded and drifted away. Wednesday went to where the phone was. The principal was getting really impatient waiting for an answer. He felt like it took forever to hear from this alleged family and how they had been raising the dark and creepy twins of the school. Morticia went to find Gomez. He was out having one of his infamous golf games. Morticia smiled as she watched her husband.

"FORE!" Gomez called, striking the ball again with a joyous smile.

"The principal was calling." Morticia said, smiling at her husband.

"Oh, what did he want?" Gomez asked, assuming the head of the school talked to her.

"He wanted to talk with Wednesday..." Morticia said.

"The children must be doing marvelously in school." Gomez chirped.

Morticia chuckled. "Yes..." she said.

Gomez put his club down and turned, smiling at Morticia. "I'm so proud..."

Morticia nodded. "They're just like Wednesday and Pugsley." she said, her tone reminiscent.

"The hanging man doesn't fall too far from the tree." Gomez said, using a common expression, but putting the family twist on it.

Morticia nodded and gently stroked Gomez's arm.

"Oh, Tish..." Gomez sighed, with a grateful smile.

Morticia smiled lovingly at him.

 

Wednesday left the room after hanging up on the phone and tried to find her brother or at least someone to talk about the twins with. Pugsley was lazing around, sharpening some of the knives.

Wednesday came to her brother. "The school principal called, he wants to see us as soon as possible about Payton and Penelope."

Pugsley looked at her. "Oh, when does he want to?" he asked.

"Someday either this or next week," Wednesday stated. "He also said in the evening, so the twins can stay here while we go to their school."

Pugsley sighed, chuckling. "Did he say why?" he asked.

"Something about their behavior in the classroom," Wednesday explained. "Maybe they've been allowed to move up a grade, they're very advanced for their age."

"Maybe." Pugsley said with a shrug.

"I don't think anything could be wrong in a bad way." Wednesday added.

Pugsley nodded.

"When do you want to do it?" Wednesday asked, not caring when they do it for their children.

Pugsley shrugged. "We don't have anything planned for a few days." he said.

"How about tomorrow?" Wednesday suggested. "I'm eager to hear how show and tell went."

"Okay." Pugsley said, nodding.

"Sounds fair, I'll call him tomorrow about it." Wednesday agreed.

 

"Trevor, try painting up and down." Jeffry instructed one of the boys painting the classroom black.

Payton looked at Jeffry. The boy seemed to be a good 'General'.

Jeffry looked at Payton feeling confident. "This is the most exciting time I've had in school."

Payton nodded sagely. He could tell.

"What should I do?" Jeffry asked.

"Keep an eye on the others too." Payton stated calmly.

"Yes sir." Jeffry nodded, then went to watch the other students doing as told.

Payton nodded happy, he didn't show any emotion, but he felt like a ruler.

Alice giggled softly. She put the spider gently back into the jar. She then hugged Penelope. "Thanks Lopie." she said, softly.

Penelope helped seal the jar on tight. "No problem, Alice."

Alice smiled.

'I'm sorry your mother doesn't like us, but we can be friends in school, she'll never know." Penelope said.

"I promise to stay friends with you..." Alice said.

"We can be secret friends." Penelope said, smiling, but not too bright and sparkly like a normal little girl.

"No matter what!" Alice said, holding out her pinky.

Penelope looked at her pinky, wondering what the girl meant to do with it.

"Hold out your pinky..." Alice said, smiling.

Penelope shrugged and did as told, extending her teensy-weensy finger on her hand.

Alice linked pinkies with her. "I Pinky promise to be friends with you, in secret, or for everyone to know." she promised.

Penelope smiled. "My pinky promises to be your friend too, Alice."

Alice smiled happily. The spider, now named Charlotte was tapping one of her legs against the glass jar she was sealed in.

"Oh, she just be hungry," Penelope looked. "I'll get her some food if you want, Alice."

"Okay." Alice said, softly.

Penelope went to find a nice juicy insect for the spider. Alice clicked fondly at the spider. Payton was still watching over the class. The other students were doing as told, the ones who weren't tied up that is. Alice looked at Charlotte. The spider ticked one of her legs against the glass.

Alice giggled. "Such a smart spider..." she cooed.

"Payton, have you seen any bugs around here for Charlotte?" Penelope came to her twin.

Payton looked pleased in his eyes, though his face was normal.

"Have you?" Penelope repeated her question.

Payton looked at Penelope. "Over there..." he said, pointing to a fly on the wall.

"Thank you." Penelope nodded her head then caught the fly, without even flinching as it buzzed in her hand.

Charlotte kept tapping against the glass.

Alice smiled softly as she said, "It's coming soon, Charlotte."

Penelope came back with a fly. "Here you go, Charlotte, here's your lunch." she dropped the fly in to let the spider eat.

Charlotte trapped the fly and started to gnaw on it.

Alice watched it, intrigued.

"Makes me think of when we feed Swampy dinner." Penelope observed Charlotte's feeding routines.

"Swampy?" Alice asked, intrigued.

"He's the creature that lives in our swamp, we feed him our leftovers after mealtime." Penelope explained, sounding happy that she was blessed with such an interesting family.

Alice blinked and smiled. Yes, she found some of the things weird, but she would fit in well enough to not run of screaming in fear.

"Do you have a swamp?" Penelope asked.

Alice shook her head. "No, Mom wouldn't like it...She prefers swimming pools..." she said.

"Oh, I didn't think you would... No offense, but your mother seems a bit boring..." Penelope said, trying not to hurt her friend's feelings and lose her chances at a friend. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean that in a bad way..."

Alice chuckled. "It's okay, Mom is annoying..." she said.

"She seemed like it..." Penelope agreed.

Payton decided the just painting was boring. He set the trashcan with paper in alight. The tied up children started to scream. This was pure anarchy! Payton smirked, looking almost exactly like Wednesday did during the play at Camp Chippowah.

Jeffry had to admit, the smirk frightened him, but he did well to hide his fear. Before everyone knew it, it was lunch time. Jeffry went to Payton. "Shall we eat now?"

Payton nodded, after all no one could 'work' on an empty stomach.

Jeffry went to the center of the classroom. "Lunch!" he announced to everyone. Though he wasn't as threatening as Payton, he was still pretty serious in the situation.

Payton nodded. The children who were free grabbed their lunchboxes.

Penelope then heard Jeffry and turned to Alice. "Which lunch box is yours?"

Alice pointed to the one that was a mixture of Purples and picked it up. She also picked up Penelope's for her.

"Oh, thank you." Penelope smiled at Alice.

Charlotte had finished her own lunch and seemed to had fallen asleep.

Alice smiled. "You're welcome." she said, sweetly.

Penelope opened her lunchbox to eat the same as Payton. "Oh, this is my favorite!" she beamed.

 

Jeffry grabbed his lunch box and ate at his table, feeling isolated from the other children.

Payton looked at Jeffry. "You can sit next to me...General." he said.

"Sir, yes sir." Jeffry sounded honored and moved himself to get closer to Payton.

Payton nodded and opened his lunchbox. "Kidney and beans." he mused.

"Kidney and beans?" Jeffry glanced. He had heard of kidney beans, but not kidney and beans separately.

Payton nodded and peeked in. "Human one..." he nodded.

Jeffry's stomach turned a bit. "That's cool and yucky."

Payton looked at him. "It's suitable to me." he said.

"Well, your choice," Jeffry said. "I like broccoli unlike a lot of kids." he admitted shamelessly.

"The only vegetable I would ever eat." Payton admitted too.

Jeffry smiled, feeling understood.

Payton took a bite of his sandwich. He looked calmly at those children. 'Such good minions' he thought.

 

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"It's a kidney, people normally have two, but Payton got the other one." Penelope explained, plainly.

Alice blinked. "Oh." she said, but smiled.

Penelope ate her food with no problems. Alice had a tomato and Cheese sandwich. The other students quietly ate their lunches, averting their gazes at the Addams twins and Jeffry. Would their parents believe them from the day they had today?

Penelope ate and drank a bit from her thermos. "This is an interesting school day."

"Yeah, Payton is a riot." Alice said, smiling.

"I really look up to him..." Penelope watched her brother a bit. "Probably cuz he's a few minutes older than me and was raised by Aunt Wednesday."

Alice smiled gently.

"I know your mom doesn't like our family, but I hope you can come over, Alice." Penelope said to her friend.

"When?" the lighter girl asked softly, smiling.

Penelope paused to think. "How about maybe if your mom is out-of-town you can ask your dad and you could sleepover or something?" she then suggested. She had heard of normal girls having sleepovers or slumber parties in some magazines that were accidentally delivered to and never returned from the Addams family house. Many postmen were too afraid to take them back to their rightful owners because it was a challenge enough giving them their mail on a regular basis.

Alice nodded. "Daddy doesn't mind you being my friend." she said, smiling.

"At least someone in your family has sanity." Penelope said with a delicate smile.

Alice pouted. "I'm sane..." she said, her eyes showed her amusement.

"I see the resemblance." Penelope lightly laughed, putting a hand on Alice's arm gently.

Alice smiled and nodded. "Good." she stated happily, but not overly so.

Penelope giggled a little and kept eating. Alice also ate. She was happy to have made a friend still. Penelope smiled at her.

"Those girls are weird." a snobby girl, Bianca, whispered to her friends as they were in the corner, safe from the Addams twins.

Alice didn't react as she didn't hear the snobby girls.

Penelope did, but she frowned at them, looking a bit threatening at the girl.

 

Payton soon finished his lunch and then thought of some next plans.

Jeffry was almost finished, he took a sip of his drink. He then took out an apple. "Payton, do you like apples?"

"Poison or candy apples, yes..." Payton drawled. He then grabbed a piece of chalk and threw it at the snobby girl, aiming to hit between her eyes.

The girl shrieked once the chalk hit her.

Alice looked as the girl suddenly shrieked. "Huh?" she asked.

Penelope looked too. "What? What?"

Alice shrugged herself not really caring about the girl.

"Uhh..." Jeffry stared at his apple and took his cupcake. He smushed them together and handed the apple. "Here!" he offered, smiling.

Payton took the apple and looked at it for a moment. He then had his tiny mouth twitch and murmured a thank you, after all he did have manners, looking like he hadn't done anything at all with what had happened to the girl. Jeffry shrugged with a small smile and ate whatever was left of his lunch. Payton took a bite out of the apple. It wasn't as good as his family's but it was edible. Jeffry cringed at what he had done to his cupcake, but ate it.

 

"Would you like to come over if you could?" Penelope asked her friend.

"Yeah." Alice admitted, smiling happily again, once again, not over the top.

"I hope you can sometime, the family's great." Penelope told her, smiling.

Alice smiled. "I can ask Daddy... He's the boss of Mom..." she said.

"Really?" Penelope asked.

Alice nodded. "Mom likes to pretend she is the boss, but Daddy is the actual boss." she said.

"Oh." Penelope said simply, smiling a little bit.

Alice giggled. Penelope finished her drink and tossed her garbage lunch remains in the flaming trash can. Alice finished hers a few minutes later. Payton shifted something that was wrapped in tinfoil to Jeffry.

Jeffry noticed the gesture. "What?" he asked, never really getting something from someone before except on his birthday or Christmas, of course.

Payton just pushed it a little further towards Jeffry.

Jeffry took the thing and unwrapped it to see what it was. "Thank Payton for the..."

Payton just merely nodded. There were two little things. One was an old fashioned jawbreaker sweet and the other thing was a vial with a weird colored liquid in.

"Ooh!" Jeffry got excited about the candy, then looked puzzled at the vial. "What's... that?" he sounded a bit nervous.

Payton looked at him. "Don't drink it...It is for your worst enemy..." he said, his voice eerie.

Jeffry looked at him and saved the vial for later, taking Payton's words, glad that he didn't drink it instinctively. Payton looked at the two girls. Jeffry saved the vial for later, wondering who to use it on.

"That was yummy." Penelope said coolly.

"Mine was okay..." Alice said.

Payton smirked very slightly.

Penelope looked at the clock, just two more hours until they could go home. "Are you bored?" she asked Alice.

"Why?" Alice asked her friend, smiling.

"I kinda am." Penelope admitted, curving her lips, not exactly smiling, but not frowning either.

"We could find something to do." Alice suggested.

Penelope went to her brother. "Payton, Alice and I are bored..."

Alice nodded, agreeing with her friend.

Payton looked at them. "Feel free to do whatever you want..." he said, his voice blank.

"Do you like to draw?" Penelope asked, suggesting normal games since she was sure Alice wasn't raised the same as her and Payton and tortured for fun.

"Yeah..." Alice said, shrugging.

Penelope went over and took a huge stack of paper and went to the boy who was considered rich on the playground. He had a 64 pack of crayons with a sharpener.

"Hey, those are MY crayons!" the brown-haired boy cried.

"That girl's Payton's sister." Jeffry reminded him, pushing his glasses back on his nose.

Alice looked at the brown-haired boy, Alex. Payton seemed to be looking at a pencil in his hand. He snapped it, a darkly contemplative look on his face. The boy squeaked and ran away, letting Penelope do what she was doing.

Penelope didn't notice, but happily came to color with Alice. "My grandmother likes to paint, sometimes Aunt Wednesday does too, but I think I'm more of a crayon artist."

Alice smiled. "I prefer crayons myself..." she said.

Payton nodded slightly at the girls. Penelope smiled, giving Alice some paper and started doodling a picture for herself to show Alice once she would finish. Alice hummed off tune as she drew. It was a sweet but not too happy tune. Penelope hummed the Funeral March as she sketched. Alice was drawing a picture of her and Penelope for the girl. She didn't think just the friendship bracelet was enough for her friend. Penelope drew a rather graphic picture, using mostly coal-black, scarlet and her favorite shade of red: crimson. The same shade as fresh blood. Alice smiled as soon as she was done. Penelope finished too and looked at the picture. Payton looked at the clock. He decided to let his 'Minions' out early as he was the boss of the classroom at the moment.

"But, where will we go?" Emily asked. "My daddy picks me up at three!"

Alice looked at the girl. "Maybe you should try doing something smart for once." she told Emily.

Payton nodded. "Or perhaps you'd like to stay and I can perform an experiment on you." he said darkly and emotionlessly.

"What!?" Emily sounded panicked.

"If you complain less, I'm sure you could have a lot of fun, Emily." Penelope advised, looking blankly at the girl.

Alice smiled at her friend. Payton took a few steps closer to Emily. The girl looked at Payton, feeling a little apprehensive and uneasy.

"My aunt thinks your mother should go visit the Bermuda Triangle." Penelope told Alice.

"Where all those planes disappear?" Alice asked, with a shrug though.

"Yeah, no one comes back, even from a vacation, everybody knows that." Penelope said, nearly sounding reminiscent of her aunt when she was younger.

Alice chuckled. "I'd have to agree...Sometimes." she said, sweetly.

Penelope beamed at her. Alice smiled back. Penelope was very glad to had made a friend who wasn't afraid of her or her brother. At least she thought Alice wasn't afraid of Payton. Alice did seem at ease around Penelope and her brother.

"So, out early or you can stay behind to become an experiment?" Payton asked the scared girl.

Emily frowned. She wouldn't know where to go if she got out early like a few of the free students but she didn't want to be part of an experiment either. Payton gave her a few moments to think it over. Jeffry looked at Emily too.

"I'll go to the parking lot..." Emily said softly, then left the classroom.

Payton seemed to almost be disappointed. "Another experiment victim runs away..." he muttered.

"I'll be experimented!" the slow boy in class with a helmet on his head gushed.

Payton's eyes took on an ecstatic glint. "Come on then, my fellow..." he said, sounding like a more emotionless flatter toned version of Gomez.

The boy laughed a bit and followed Payton to the experimentation process. Jeffry stepped back and awaited further instructions. It seemed as though he were the Igor and Payton was Dr. Frankenstein in this operation. Penelope decided to watch to see what would happen. Alice followed as Payton led them to the currently unused science lab. Payton got the boy to lie down on the workbench.

He then instructed Jeffry on which chemicals to get to make the boy sleep, he couldn't have any screams disturbing the school. Penelope followed to, feeling very curious. Jeffry went to find the chemicals he thought would be correct. Alice watched. Payton corrected Jeffry when and if he got it wrong and was about to make the boy on the desk drink the concoction. The boy hummed to himself, waiting for the experiment to begin. Jeffry nodded and would come back and forth until he would get the right arrangements.

"Payton's really smart, I am too, but I'm sure he's smarter than I am." Penelope observed.

"You're smarter than me." Alice whispered.

"Oh, come on now." Penelope told her. She then jolted as the school bell rang.

Alice smiled, showing she wasn't actually upset. "It's true though." she said.

Payton cursed internally as the bell to end school rang. He wanted to experiment.

Jeffry looked at the clock and back at Payton. "Maybe we could try this again tomorrow?" he suggested calmly.

Payton sighed and nodded. "Tomorrow, be here or it won't be pretty for you..." he stated monotonously to the 'experiment victim'.

 

The boy tilted his head, his eyes going crossed. Jeffry grabbed his bag and quickly went out to find his dad to pick him up from school. What a day this was.

Penelope stood up with Alice. "Well, it was nice to see you again, Alice, see you soon." she smiled delicately at her friend. Though Amanda forbade their friendship, they could still be secret friends during school hours where Amanda would never know.

Alice hugged Penelope before having to let go and go out. Payton grabbed their parasol before opening the closet door. Amanda was searching for Alice from her spot where she was standing. Penelope rushed to Payton's side as they were out.

"Hurry up..." Wednesday said under her breath as she nearly hit the sun, though it was buried behind the clouds this afternoon. Wednesday turned her head to see Payton's 'minion' go to his father who seemed quite familiar. "Is that Joel Glicker?" she whispered under her breath.

Payton hurried over with Penelope so that the three of them could share the parasol. Alice went up to her mother, looking glum. Amanda steered her to the ferrari, looking almost smug.

Wednesday shook her head, then looked down at her twins. "How was school?" she asked, emotionless, though she was really curious how it went today with show and tell. She also now wondered where that Ms. Shimmer was. Guess she didn't escape from Payton's clutches.

"Payton took over the school!" Penelope cheered.

"Well the class, I plan to continue the conquest tomorrow, Mother..." Payton stated, sounding humble though emotionless.

"You have my spirit in you, Payton, I see you're more wise beyond your years than reading on a third grade level like your sister." Wednesday was blown away as she took the twins in the car to get back home. "How was show and tell?"

Penelope looked out the window to see Alice one last time before they would all be home. Alice was glum in her parents' car but managed a smile for Penelope. She had Charlotte in her bag. Penelope smiled.

Payton looked almost content. "It was interesting... Penelope's show and tell made the teacher faint..." he stated.

"That's a good girl." Wednesday remarked warmly to her 'adoptive niece'.

Payton offered a tiny pat on the hand. Penelope turned to him and beamed a little.

"What did your teacher think of your heart, Payton?" Wednesday asked, knowing Gomez would love to hear about that first thing the twins come through the door.

"She seemed to be wary of it..." the boy said, calmly. "A few students were intrigued..." he then added.

"I know your grandfather was." Wednesday told him. "How did your project go, Penelope?"

"Great, though the teacher scared Charlotte when we were looking for her." Penelope answered.

Payton nodded once. "The Alice girl wasn't actually scared, Mother... Maybe there is a chance for that girl to survive under our rule..." he stated.

Wednesday hummed, a little interested. Maybe she was wrong to judge Alice so quickly for being the daughter of Amanda Buckman. "It's amusing how the gene pool draws you a wild card," she remarked. "She wasn't frightened of the spider?"

"No, she thought Charlotte was cool," Penelope explained happily. "Could she come for a sleepover when her mother is away for a long time?"

"Good luck with that, but I'll allow it." Wednesday replied, dryly.

Payton smirked. "I could sort it out, Mother..." he said.

Amanda pushed her hair back, smiling. Alice was crossing her arms, sulking, because of her mother.

"That's my boy." Wednesday said, nearly beaming.

Penelope stared out the window. She loved Wednesday, but not as much as Payton, probably because Wednesday raised him while she was raised by Pugsley, so she would often talk to him more than she would to Wednesday.

Payton gave a rare half-smile to his mother. Wednesday did the same, looking back at him before they were home. Payton looked out of the window. He was relieved when they reached the darker more barren roadway leading to their house.

"Did you get to experiment at all Payton?" Wednesday asked, knowing how anxious the boy was to have a minion and have evil plots.

"Almost, Mother, the bell rang before I could start properly... However, I got practice with ruling due to ruling over most of the classroom." he told her. He strove to impress her, his role model.

"Dreaded bell... Perhaps you should've dismantled it." Wednesday icily joked.

Payton seemed to wilt like a delightfully dead flower. "I didn't think about that..." he murmured.

"It's still a new school year, boy, you got a lot to learn." Wednesday encouraged him, not showing any sign of disappointment in his performance in school today.

Payton cheered up a little, not looking like the wilted flower so much anymore.

"Oh, and just so you two know, your school principal called, so Pugsley and I will be at the school tomorrow evening, you two can stay inside with your relatives and do anything you want." Wednesday told them.

Payton looked at Wednesday. "I'll more than likely be writing up my report on the experiment, Mother..." he said.

"Excellent." Wednesday remarked.

When they got back home and inside, Payton pulled out the jar with the heart inside.

Penelope went inside and took out her crayon drawing. She smiled at it and Thing crept next to her. "Could you show this to Grandmother and Grandfather?" she asked.

Thing took the drawing and went to give it to Morticia and Gomez.

Wednesday walked inside and felt drained. "I'm so thirsty..." she smacked her lips.

Payton heard this and ran to get his mother a drink. Wednesday saw Payton rush to do so and was surprised by his loyalty toward her. It almost made her feel...alive. Payton came back less than a minute later with Wednesday's favorite non-alcoholic drink.

"Thank you, Payton." Wednesday said, taking the drink fondly.

Payton's mouth twitched happily. Wednesday drank some of her drink and ruffled up Payton's hair. Payton put up with the hair ruffle and then sorted his hair out after.

 

Morticia looked at Thing as he came in. "What is that, Thing?" she asked.

Thing showed the drawing made by Penelope to see a blood bath of lions surrounding the male lion in the center that resembled Payton.

Morticia smiled, such a macabre gesture to Payton, it was delightful. "Gomez, look." she said.

Gomez came forward, rubbing his eye. He had a little scare earlier that was too much even for him so he took a nap, then he saw the picture. "Oh, how darling... That blood looks almost real," he smiled, then raised an eyebrow. He bent down and put his finger against the crimson shades and tasted some. "It's crayon." he confirmed.

Morticia chuckled. "It would probably be dripping if it was real blood." she said.

"Well, you can never tell." Gomez shrugged with a smile.

Morticia laughed softly.

"This is a lovely piece." Gomez took the picture. "I wonder why she chose lions though."

"The lion is meant to be the 'King' of animals..." Morticia said.

"Oh, that's clever!" Gomez chuckled a bit.

Morticia smiled.

"Penelope and her brother are full of surprises." Gomez was very proud.

Morticia nodded. "I think Payton admires you." she told her husband.

"He reminds me of his mother." Gomez smiled.

Morticia nodded.

Gomez rubbed his head a bit, but smiled. "I feel another headache coming... Maybe I should nap before dinner."

"Maybe I should help you out..." Morticia said, sultry.

"Tish..." Gomez looked back at her lustfully.

Morticia smiled in a sultry way and ran a gentle hand through his hair. Gomez smiled and bit his lip, shuddering.

Morticia looked up at him. "Allow me to ease your suffering, Mon chere..." she almost purred.

"Only to live without you would be suffering..." Gomez said, shuddering, but in a good way.

Morticia lightly pecked her lips to his. "And death without you would be torture..." she breathed.

 

Penelope found Pugsley and told him about her and Payton's day in school. Pugsley looked at Penelope and listened, smiling. "Alice loved the spider too." Penelope smiled as she told more, before powering down.

Pugsley smiled and pulled Penelope into a hug. "Good to hear you had a good day, pumpkin." he said.

"I think Payton had more fun today, but yeah, today was great." Penelope smiled at him as she was hugged.

Pugsley smiled and stroked her hair.

"I wish we could have Alice over on Halloween though." Penelope pouted.

Pugsley looked at his daughter. "You can bring her over if you want." he said.

Penelope sighed. "Her mother won't let her."

Pugsley gave a small laugh. "We could sneak her over." he said.

"I told her to come over when her mother would be gone for a while and we could have one of those sleepovers." Penelope smiled. "We'll kidnap her later once she gets used to us."

"Anything you want, dear." Pugsley smiled at his daughter.

"Could I poison her mom sometime?" Penelope got eager.

"We'll see..." Pugsley said, grinning.

Penelope looked excited as Pugsley chuckled. "Payton threw chalk at this mean girl in class, but he aimed not to kill." Penelope added, remembering the words she and Payton were taught to live by once they were old enough to use their hands for weaponry.

"What happened to the girl?" Pugsley asked.

"She was being snobby, but after Payton did that, she got quiet." Penelope explained.

Pugsley nodded. "So, shall we go sneak a snack from the kitchen?" he asked.

"I am a bit hungry." Penelope admitted, smiling.

"Come on, then." Pugsley winked and snuck with her to the kitchen.

Penelope giggled a bit and followed her father in to get some nourishment. Pugsley kept an eye out for Lurch or Grandmama. It wouldn't do if they wer caught. Grandmama just left the kitchen to tend to some plants right then. Penelope watched her leave and crept into the kitchen to see if anyone might have been in there with her great-grandmother. No one was there. Pugsley snuck in too and got some of the favorite snacks he and Penelope liked. Penelope smiled as they shared some of the snacks. Pugsley smiled back. Payton suddenly appeared, emotionless. His arms crossed though. Penelope took a nibble and saw her brother, looking startled by his sudden appearance. Pugsley looked at Payton almost sheepishly, he reminded him so much of Wednesday.

Payton looked at Penelope with crossed arms. "Why are you and Uncle Pugsley eating before dinner?" he asked.

Penelope gulped down her little snack. "We're hungry..." she said, innocently and a hint of sweetness in her voice.

Pugsley nodded, agreeing with his daughter.

"Why was I not invited?" Payton then monotoned.

"You didn't ask." Penelope stated simply.

Pugsley watched the interaction.

"I didn't know what you were doing until I followed you..." Payton stated, his gaze fixed on Penelope.

Penelope came over and offered some food. "You want some?" she asked, gently. She wasn't afraid of her brother like many other children were, but she really respected him and did anything she could to make him happy.

Payton took a little, and did use his manners. "Thank you..." he said, very quietly, but still monotonously. He patted Penelope's head and then started to eat his little snack.

Penelope smirked and ate some more of her snack, trying not to fill up too much before dinner.


	8. Secret Package

October neared quicker than anyone may or may not have anticipated. Penelope was excited with it almost being Halloween. This also meant that the kids in school could dress up in their costumes and walk around the playground as a parade for the other grades. Some tricky teenagers were loading up on egg cartons and toilet paper for childish pranks, even more childish than dressing up and ringing door bells for candy. Amanda was speaking with her family, saying that she was going to have to go out-of-town a bit during the Halloween holiday and trusted her husband to not let their daughter go out for candy and dress up. Payton dressed up as a colourful business accountant... something that wasn't liked much by the family, so being the perfect costume. Penelope was dressed as a murdered princess, she even had red splatters over herself to look as though she had either been skinned alive or stabbed to death in a way familiar as Julius Caesar.

"I remember when I got older for Halloween," Wednesday told the children as they were getting in costume. "I wore my normal dress to be a serial killer, they look like everyone else."

Payton smirked a tiny bit. He picked up a briefcase. "Board room meeting at 3:00." he said, emotionlessly.

"Boring!" Penelope nearly chirped.

Payton hid a shudder at the chirpiness, but looked up at his mother.

"You look very sharp, knock them dead in school." Wednesday told her foster son.

"Not literally this time." Gomez warned the boy about last time when he took that phrase seriously.

"Yes mother, I understand, Grandfather..." he said. He knew that now, after having knocked a person off the monkey bars.

"That's great paint, Penelope, looks so realistic." Gomez smiled at his granddaughter's blood splatters.

"Grandmother put it on," the dark girl smiled proudly. "I don't know where she got the paint though..."

Payton looked and shrugged.

"I hope you two will do alright out there, and remember, when you get home, Halloween is an important tradition in our house and we'll do anything you want." Wednesday told the twins.

"Yes, Aunt Wednesday." Penelope nodded respectively.

"Yes, Mother." Payton agreed.

"Good." Wednesday didn't really show it, but she was actually proud of the twins and how far they had come to become true Addamses.

Penelope looked out the window and saw that it was actually a cloudy day and looked to be in the middle of the night in contrast to a bright shiny day before Halloween night, a true autumn person's favorite celebration.

Payton looked at Penelope. "Let us go then." he said, monotonously.

Penelope looked at her brother and nodded. "Yes, of course, the sooner the better."

Payton nodded and inclined his head to his mother and grandfather. Pugsley came along with his hands filed with the gruesome treats he and his family liked. Penelope walked out with them, their feet crushing and crackling the crisp, nearly dead autumn leaves along the pavement. There was a mailman who seemed very hesitant about delivery to the Addams family.

Payton looked at him. "Post..." he said simply and held out his hand to the man.

"Aww... You're actually kind of cute..." the mailman cooed at little Payton, not knowing how suicidal that was to say to a boy like him.

Payton's face darkened. He however took the post and handed it to Penelope. He then slipped on a hand buzzer and held it out, it not being visible. Penelope took the few letters and a brown box that was addressed to the house, but on the outside it said for both of the twins.

"Happy Halloween, kid." the mailman smiled softly, and shook his hand, then jolting at the sudden buzzing and was nearly getting electrocuted, more extreme than the childish prank everyone knew. There was even steam coming out from him and his hair looked like a heavy metal guitar player now.

Payton gave a chilling scary smile. "Happy Halloween..." he said icily.

The mailman twitched in his vehicle, a little stunned.

"I believe that was the tricking in the trick or treat, brother." Penelope said as she handed the letters to the adults and kept the package.

Payton looked at her. "I know." he said simply.

Penelope looked down from him and looked at the package. "I wonder what it is...?"

"You can either take it to school with you and open it at break or you can wait until you get home." Wednesday advised them the way Gomez and Morticia did whenever she got something in the mail before going to school.

Payton allowed his sister to choose what they would do.

"Take it with us... Maybe we could use it after school tonight." Penelope shrugged.

"That's good thinking, Lope." Gomez smiled down at her.

Payton nodded. Pugsley gave the two a small bag of the treats each.

"Thank you, Dad." Penelope took her bag after putting the package in her backpack to make things easier to carry so she could keep her hands free.

Payton took it with a small nod.

"See you both tonight." Wednesday told the twins before Lurch drove by to take them to school like always.

Penelope gave a nod and joined her brother to ride to school. She just loved this holiday, she was sure her relatives did too, but they weren't as animated about it as she was. She never knew or understood why. Well, Pugsley was but that was just a given. Payton looked out bored. Penelope was eager to see Alice again, even if they were having a forbidden friendship. Payton looked at her and then ahead again.

Alice, meanwhile, was forced to dress up as a fairy by Amanda. Alice's father was in another room, getting a camera to take a picture of the girl before taking her to school.

Alice pouted. "I don't want to be a fairy..." she muttered.

The man of the house came with a smile and shuddered at Alice's fairy costume, but put on a smile. "Oh, sweetie... You're going to win all the candy in the neighborhood." he said, encouragingly to get on his wife's good side.

Alice crossed her arms.

Amanda smiled at her husband then gave Alice a nudge. "Smile, sweetheart, don't slouch and keep your arms from crossing." she said.

The man took out his camera and had it aimed for Alice and he tried to allow her to get it over with, though he had to agree that the fairy costume seemed a little too juvenile and not fitting for his and Amanda's daughter.

Alice did as her mother said and faked a smile. Amanda frowned a little, but at least Alice was smiling. FLASH! went the camera. "Okay, that's good." he smiled gently at the two women in his life.

Alice looked annoyed she had to go as a fairy.

It didn't take too long until the Addams twins were at the school and Alice's father had dropped her off. The school was decorated for the scary holiday and a lot of children were dressed up as they should be. Some were scary creatures, but didn't look too scary and a lot of the girls were either princesses from Disney films or fairies like Alice. At least Penelope had creativity in her costume and called herself Princess Di after her death. Alice scowled at all the babyish and too bright outfits. Payton looked at the others, disgusted. Penelope wrinkled her nose at some of their fellow students.

"Try to have a good day, pumpkin, Mom won't be home tonight." Alice's father said gently, before driving back home to allow her to have a good day at school, even if she was forced to become a fairy.

Alice waved and huffed "Ugh, this costume..." she muttered.

There was a boy dressed as a scout and he had some popcorn. Payton looked around.

The boy scout went up to Payton. "Would you like to buy some boy scout popcorn?"

"Is it made from real boy scouts?" Penelope asked, before finding Alice.

Alice saw Penelope. "Hi..." she said.

Payton awaited the answer.

The boy blinked and walked away from the twins.

"Alice!" Penelope rushed to the girl, then stepped back, shivering. "Ugh, that costume is so atrocious! Oh, no offense..." she bit her lip, hoping that it wouldn't make the girl want to stop being friends with her.

"Don't worry, I hate it too... Mom forced it on me." her friend said.

"It's so unflattering..." Penelope sighed, but cheerfully smiled, even if she represented one of the most infamous controversies in the world. At least she wasn't something offensive or hurtful like a Muslim terrorist. "I'm Princess Diana after the Paris car crash."

"Very creative." Alice said.

"Yeah, this paint looks so realistic, my Grandmother did it," Penelope smiled to her best friend in school. "I love Halloween."

Alice chuckled.

"I wish you could come over..." Penelope sighed, knowing how Amanda forbade Alice from going out and getting candy like a normal kid.

"Well, Mom is out tonight, and I could ask Daddy." she said.

"You could always come to our house," Penelope suggested. "We do a lot of great things."

Alice smiled. "I'd like that... But, I can't wear this..." she mumbled.

"Maybe we could get you something better after school." Penelope shrugged, trying not to poke her eyeballs out with a pencil with the bright colors displayed in front of her.

Alice nodded. "I'll ask Daddy..." she said.

"I hope he says yes." Penelope nodded as well.

There was a familiar boy who was dressed a lot like Payton in his normal, everyday clothes. Payton looked at the boy. He raised an eyebrow. The boy turned to Payton, revealing to be Jeffry in costume.

"I do believe I feel honored." Payton mumbled.

"I can change if you want... I just thought it'd be cool." Jeffry shrugged to Payton, but smiled apologetically. He really hoped he could be friends with the boy, even if he was very dark and demented.

Payton held out a hand, the one what was free of the buzzer. Jeffry took his hand. Payton shook his hand once, then let go.

Jeffry nodded, then looked at Payton's costume. "You look like my dad when he goes to work."

The school bell then rang, summoning the students inside to start their day and put off idle chit-chat for now. Alice linked arms with Penelope and went into class. Payton walked inside too.

Ms. Shimmer did not appear to be in the classroom, but the school principal was as the students filed in one-by-one. He wasn't wearing a costume himself, he found it to be very childish and a pointless waste of time. Payton and Alice looked at the headmaster.

"Hello, children..." the principal greeted, nearly cold. He seemed to not really like his job and looking after children in a schoolhouse.

Payton looked coldly at the principal too. Alice sat down at the table where Penelope, Payton and Jeffrey sat.

"Aww... Aren't we cute? All dressed up to barge into people's houses for candies?" the principal glanced at the students.

Penelope had an unsettling feeling about the man in charge of the school, he seemed very mean-spirited, even more than her Aunt Wednesday and that was saying something. Payton was planning to destroy the principal.

"Where's Ms. Shimmer?" Jeffry asked, blinking.

"Ms. Shimmer had to take some personal time away from teaching," the principal said, not removing his sharp accented voice. "She said something about a child taking over the classroom."

Some of the students visibly shook in front of Payton as he said that. Payton didn't even blink. He looked dead on at the Principal. Alice looked at the headmaster, frowning.

"I bet you're all ready to get back to your homes for your trick or treating adventure tonight, but you're all in school now and it's time to get to work, pop quiz on long division!" the principal laughed darkly.

"But, sir, we're in first grade, we don't know how to do that!" a girl dressed as a bunny cried.

"Oh, what a shame... I won't mind seeing you all fail miserably." the principal smirked back.

Payton raised an eyebrow a fraction.

"Sir, you can't do that... My mom is leader of the PTA group..." Alice says calmly.

"Oh, stop your whining... You're lucky I don't give you all detention." the principal nearly threatened, then handed the papers to the students. "Tell you what, if any one of you can solve this paper, I'll let you all have recess all day."

Penelope took her paper and smiled to herself. Math was her strong suit and she was able to fill out the paper like it was preschool addition. Payton strugled on just one question. Alice frowned and was trying to solve them. The other students were just as miserable. Penelope turned to see her brother having issues. She explained the problems solved in the best way she could for him to understand since this was a breeze for her, despite being only six years old. Payton nodded his thanks, finishing the one hard problem.

Alice found it too hard to do, math was not her strong point. Penelope decided to also help Alice. Payton placed his pencil down. Alice smiled at her friend as she was helped. Jeffry did some problems, but he had pretty good guesses. Penelope smiled at her twin and friend, pleased she helped them.

Payton waited. Alice may not have got them all right but she had some done. The principal was sitting behind the desk, not noticing what the Addams twins had done along with their friends, Jeffry and Alice. Payton rested his chin on his hands, looking forward asleep with his eyes open again. Alice placed her pencil down.

"Too bad this is faux..." Penelope took Alice's wand that came with her fairy costume and observed it.

Alice smiled slightly.

The principal stood up from behind his desk. "Pencils down!" he commanded sharply, making the students do as told. He chuckled as he collected Payton and Penelope's papers and was shocked. He saw that they got nearly every answer correct. He stared at the papers, then at the two black and white haired twins.

"I believe you owe us an early recess, sir." Penelope stated, sounding quite mature.

Alice nodded. Payton merely seemed to look at the headmaster.

The principal sighed in defeat. "Very well, class dismissed..." he mumbled, putting his palm to his face.

Penelope collected the package from the mail and left with Alice to go to the playground. Jeffry stood up from his table and pushed in his chair to go with Payton while the other students went out the room, laughing cheerfully to an early recess. Alice went off with Penelope. Payton merely stood up and filed out with Jeffry.

Penelope took out the package, eager to open it now. "I can't wait any longer!" she nearly squealed.

"What's that?" Jeffry noticed the box in the girl's hands.

"It's a package from family outside of our town." Penelope explained as she sat down to open it.

Alice sat next to her. Payton woke up and watched.

Penelope opened the package and saw a box wrapped in plastic. "Man, I hate security postal service! Does anyone have a knife or something?"

Alice shook her head.

"You don't?" Jeffry raised an eyebrow at the girl.

Payton took his ruler out of the briefcase and pulled it apart to reveal a blade.

"Thanks." Penelope took it and used it along the plastic to get the box open. The box had a piece of paper in it and Penelope took the paper to read it.

'Dear, Payton and Penelope,

Have you ever wanted to have your very own pet but the store had nothing you were anxious to purchase? Well, fear no more, because on the back of this letter is a set of instructions I want you two to follow, I discovered it myself when I was about your ages without your mother/aunt's and father/uncle's help, but with a little help from my mother. Follow these rules carefully and you two shall become proud pet owners like your grandmother with her exotic plants.

Best wishes, Pubert.'

"Uncle Pubert..." Payton muttered.

"I thought Aunt Wednesday ate him..." Penelope murmured, but was anticipating to try to follow the code on the back of the letter.

Payton looked at his sister. "This shall be... Interesting." he said.

"Wow, make you own pet!" Jeffry sounded excited. "I wonder if my dad would let me have a fire-breathing turtle..."

"I could make you one..." Payton then told his friend.

Jeffry looked back, smiling.

"Would it be so horrible if we tried to do it in school?" Penelope asked, nervously of what their parents might do if they would hear about this at home.

"Well, if it caused panic, but not much harm, Mother wouldn't mind..." Payton said.

Alice looked a little confused.

"That's true," Penelope nodded. "Where do we get such ingredients."

"I'd go to the school science lab." Jeffry suggested, knowing how there were very unusual things in that room.

Payton looked at him. "Let us go then." he said.

Alice stood up and helped Penelope up. Jeffry made sure no one was watching them and went to get the door open for them. Penelope walked with Alice and kept the paper close to herself so no one would see it or think it was trash. Payton followed Jeffry. Alice smiled a little at her friend.

Jeffry saw the science classroom door was conveniently opened. The science teacher of the school stepped out and looked around. He was either an actual mad scientist or that was his costume, but he wore a white lab coat with yellow rubber gloves with wild snow-white hair and had brown eyes. He looked a little elderly. Penelope and the others hid, to avoid being seen by the man. Payton's eyes glinted with inspiration. This man looked like a true mad scientist. Alice covered her mouth to quieten her breathing.

"Who's there?" the man sounded like he could sense the children. He looked around to find them.

Penelope blinked, but said nothing.

Payton was itching to go talk to the man, only Penelope actually able to see that though. Alice kept quiet.

The man looked and found the children. He wasn't annoyed or mad at them, just surprised. "Aren't you four a little too young for advanced chemistry?"

"Oh, please don't let us get in trouble!" Jeffry nearly moaned.

Penelope was still quiet.

"I actually am interested in science myself... I have a small lab set at home, sir." Payton said, his voice almost sounding like it had emotion. His eyes glinted with actual happiness at being able to speak with one of his new role models.

"Really now?" the science teacher sounded intrigued. "I suppose you'd like to come in."

"If you don't mind, sir... We were thinking of making something." Penelope added in.

"If you don't mind, sir." Payton said, sounding almost as respectful as he did to his grandfather which was a lot.

Alice smiled a little.

"Mind? Of course, I don't mind, come along then, though I can't say I've seen children your age creating things." the science teacher let them inside, actually seeming to be nice and friendly unlike anyone else who was almost a jerk and wasn't a member of the Addams family.

"Our uncle sent us some instructions about making our very own pets." Penelope explained.

Jeffry looked around the classroom in awe seeing the big desks with stools behind them, a lot of shelves had the best science literature, and there were beakers, bottles, and microscopes almost everywhere. The chalkboard was even engraved with the Periodic Table of Elements. It looked more like a college or high school room than for younger children. Payton looked around and if he was one for showing emotions would be giggling with glee. Penelope looked at the recipe list and looked around for the chemicals.

"Do you kids need any help?" the science teacher asked as he went to hand them goggles if they wanted to see anything.

Payton put the goggles on. "If you want to help sir, you are quite welcome too." he said.

"Well, I am a professional." the science teacher told the boy.

Penelope slid hers on and handed a pair to Alice. Jeffry had his on and he felt smarter. Payton nodded. Alice put hers on, but didn't get too close.

"Please excuse the mess, it's not often I have students willingly join my class older than you lot," the science teacher said as he cleared a desk for them. "Kids these days just don't get interested in science, though when I was a little older than you all, science became a passion of mine. Funny how things work when you do something you love when you have no one else to share it with."

Payton wondered it he should bring an experiment of his into school the next time to show the science teacher.

The science teacher read some of the ingredients. "Let me tell you kids, your uncle sounds like a very interesting man, I haven't heard of most of these ingredients used to make pets, but maybe we could give it a shot." he shrugged, then allowed the twins to make their separate concoctions.

Jeffry stood back with Alice as this was happening. Payton got to work, the air around him seeming to crackle with madness. Penelope wasn't as mad in the mad scientist bit as her brother, but was excited. She added in the last drop of a purple, fizzing chemical and dropped it in, making a tiny foom appear over the beaker. Payton did pretty much the same only a little faster.

"According to my calculations, when they use a volt of electricity... We're all gonna see some serious stuff." the science teacher told Jeffry and Alice as they watched Penelope and Payton at work.

Alice looked awe-stricken. Payton got the battery that was used and placed the wires in before setting it on to electrify the concoction. Penelope looked at her brother, gave a nod with him, then they sent the electricity to their respective beakers which powered up in that room, but caused every other room of the school's lights to go out. Payton allowed a brief dark but awkward laugh. Alice shivered. Jeffry blinked at Payton's laugh, never hearing him really laugh before.

The beakers were glowing, Payton's was glowing bright green like it was radioactive acid and Penelope's glowed a bright purple like it was alien snot mucus of sorts. Penelope's beaker shook a little and it fell to the side. It had steam coming out of it and there came a foot that looked like a rabbit's foot. It grew another foot and it was trying to get the beaker off. Penelope blinked and grabbed the end of the beaker to help her new pet and removed it to show a cute and cuddly gelatinous bunny rabbit. Payton reacted the same only his became a creepy looking frog. Alice smiled at the bunny.

Penelope blinked and took out a treat for the rabbit. "I wasn't really expecting that..."

The bunny rabbit was then shown to have razor-sharp teeth like a piranha and devoured the treat quickly and nosily like it was a fresh piece of meat.

"Wow." Jeffry blinked.

Payton watched his frog. The frog saw a fly and a barbed tongue shot out to eat it.

"Oh, she's so precious." Penelope held her bunny rabbit as it was still eating and devouring the treat and licked its muzzle clean.

"What a couple of interesting children..." the science teacher blinked at the twins.

Payton held a hand out. The frog jumped into it a croaked.

"I assume you both know that pets are a big responsibility, especially those two." the science teacher warned them, serving as a mentor to them more than their regular teacher or principal ever would be.

"Oh, yes, our grandmother taught us about responsibility with her own pets." Penelope nodded as she stroked her bunny, despite the creature being very slimy and disgusting, but she didn't mind.

Payton nodded. The frog jumped on his head and sat there.

The science teacher looked up at the frog, not sure what to make of it. "Hello there, amphibian..."

"What are you going to call your pet?" Jeffry asked the girl twin.

"I'm not sure," Penelope shrugged as she held her new animal. "Probably Calpurnia..."

"I like that name..." Alice chips in.

"She was an ancestor of ours," Penelope explained. "She was burned at the stake for witchcraft in 1706. Grandmother told me she danced naked and enslaved a minister. Aunt Wednesday looked up to her."

Jeffry bit his lip, but nodded once. "Cool." he was never really what to make of his new friends, he found them interesting and disturbing at the same time, but at least now he had friends this year.

Alice blinked, but smiled. Payton merely looked emotionless. The frog croaked happily.

Payton looked at the teacher. "Thank you, sir." he started.

"Such brilliant minds I could mold..." the science teacher smiled fondly at the twins. "Do you two do experiments often?"

"When not playing or having family celebrations, sometimes." Penelope said as she allowed Alice to pet her bunny.

Alice gently stroked the rabbit.

"It's my favorite hobby, I plan to do a brain experiment..." Payton said, in a monotonous tone, as usual.

"Fascinating," the science teacher was amazed by the twins. "What sort of brain experiment?"

"To see if I can expand the brain's capacity to learn." Payton explained.

The frog croaked and jumped over to Jeffry.

"Fascinating." the science teacher was intrigued by the six-year-old's intelligence.

The rabbit blinked at her master's friend and shivered, bearing its fangs.

"No, Calpurnia, Alice is my friiiieeend..." Penelope tried to soothe and calm the mutated creature.

"I won't hurt you, Calpurnia." Alice said gently.

The rabbit settled down and was now calm around Alice. The girl smiled. Penelope smiled as Calpurnia and Alice were getting along now. Alice smiled happily.

"This has been a good day at school." Penelope smiled at her pet and best friend.

Calpurnia seemed to had purred at the girls. Alice giggled gently.

The boy with glasses blinked and he remained calm as the frog was around him. "Hello, little fella..." he greeted sheepishly.

The frog jumped onto Jeffry's shoulder, croaking.

Jeffry blinked a bit at the sudden croaking, but smiled at the creature, just hoping a fly wouldn't come out and its tongue would stab him.

The science teacher marveled at the twins, hoping they could all become friends. "You and your sister are quite interesting, Payton, I look forward to teaching you in the future."

"Is there no way to start today?" Payton asked.

The frog merely nuzzled Jeffry.

"I'm afraid not today, but this can count as your first day of my class." the teacher said, sounding apologetic.

Jeffry smiled at the frog, but shook some chills around his body, it felt unusual, but tolerable.

Payton nodded. "Anphi show your gratitude..." he said.

The frog jumped over to the teacher and croaked.

"Great Scott!" the science teacher uttered out, surprised at the frog for doing that so suddenly, but smiled.

Jeffry felt slight force as the frog hopped from him to the older man, but he was fine.

Calpurnia seemed to be withdrawn over something.

"You okay, girl?" Penelope cooed. "Are you thirsty?"

Payton nodded.

"What do mutant rabbits drink?" Penelope asked herself, though she was sure Jeffry and Alice wouldn't be able to answer that question.

The science teacher twinged and saw he had a cut in between his fingers. "Damn!" he muttered, hoping the kids wouldn't imitate him or feel hurt that he cursed in pain.

Calpurnia blinked and glanced to see the fresh blood drawing from the man's fingers and looked peckish.

Payton looked at the rabbit. "Penelope..." he warned.

Alice looked too. None of them seemed worried about the curse.

Penelope blinked and took her pet over to the bleeding man. "Care to give up a pint or two?" she asked like a next-door neighbor coming to visit and ask for a cup of sugar.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea... I saw a movie like this, only it wasn't a bunny, it was a killer plant..." Jeffry's tone sounded haunting.

Payton simply went over to the teacher and took his handkerchief and held it over the cut. "Not this teacher..." he said simply.

Alice shivered at Jeffry's tone.

"Sorry." Jeffry saw the normal girl's nervousness.

Alice gave a smile.

"Is that better?" Jeffry smiled a little.

Alice nodded, cheered up again now.

Calpurnia whimpered a bit, but some of the handkerchief allowed some of the blood to drop into her mouth and she felt a little bit better.

"Maybe we should get Daddy to go to the blood bank before this evening." Penelope blinked as she tried to soothe her mutant pet.

Payton nodded. He handed the handkerchief to the rabbit after the teacher's cut had stopped bleeding. Calpurnia suckled on the handkerchief a bit like it was fresh mother milk.

"Thanks, Payton..." Penelope said softly.

"Now you are safe, sir, and the rabbit gets her needed drink." he said simply.

"Thank you." the teacher said, allowing himself to heal and take a quick break.

Penelope removed the handkerchief as Calpurnia finished her feeding and put the bunny over her shoulder to 'burp' it. As she did, the bunny burped up some flames outside the window, making some of the kids on the playground scream. "Sorry!"

Payton raised an eyebrow. Alice looked at Anphi. Penelope patted Calpurnia's back a last couple of times and then set the bunny on the floor to allow her to hop around.

"So, you named him Anphi?" Jeffry looked at the frog as well, asking Payton.

Payton nodded. "Yes." he said simply.

"That's an interesting name." Jeffry looked back at the boy.

Penelope looked outside to see some kids together in their outfits pretending to be who they were dressed up as to make a game out of it. Payton cleaned up. Alice cooed at Calpurnia. The lunch bell rang.

"Wow, time for food already?" Jeffry sounded surprised.

Penelope smiled at her pet and friend. Payton looked at the teacher. Alice looked surprised too.

"Well, I suppose you're all hungry, unfortunately, I don't allow eating in the classroom, I'm sorry, but it's the rules." the teacher told them apologetically, not wanting to kick them out, but it was a safety and health hazard.

Calpurnia hopped into Penelope's arms obediently and looked to her friends and brother to dismiss for meal time in school.

"Do you have lunch too, sir?" Alice asked.

Payton picked up Anphi.

"Yes, usually in he teacher's lounge." the teacher told her with a smile.

"Oh, yeah, the mysterious teacher's lounge..." Jeffry smirked as he held his stomach with it rumbling slightly.

Alice nodded once. "Oh, okay." she said.

"Why don't you all get your lunch and head back to class?" the teacher helped them out. "I really enjoyed your company."

"Thank you for having us." Penelope said, really grateful. She was always the more emotional twin due to being raised by Pugsley and he was more happy than his sister was.

Payton merely nodded. Anphi croaked his goodbye. Alice waved and led them out.

"Feel free to stop by anytime." the teacher told them, smiling.

Penelope nodded and carried Calpurnia out, following Alice.

Jeffry left with his friends to get his grub on, he was excited about the candied brownie his dad packed him for with his lunch.

Soon the kids were where they could eat lunch. Jeffry opened his lunch box and took out the brownie he was anxious about getting to.

"Hey, kid, that's a nice snack your mommy and daddy packed for me." a big kid dressed as a football player came and swiped it from him.

"Hey, that's not yours!" Penelope glared at the boy.

Payton looked at the boy. Anphi gave an evil croak and took the brownie back off him and returned it to Jeffry. Alice stood up squaring up to the bully.

The bully backed up, surprised at the frog. "Stupid toad! Stupid bunny!" he looked down at Penelope's pet and grabbed it by the ears.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Jeffry warned.

The bully snorted. "Why not, four eyes?"

Calpurnia grew aggressive and bared her fangs, looking red-eyed and angered with the tormenting boy who was disrupting her master and friends. Payton blinked slowly. Anphi watched.

Alice giggled. "That's why..." she said. She tried to pry his hand off Calpurnia's ears.

Calpurnia nearly barked at the bully to make him go away.

"You're all freaks, freaks I tell you!" the bully backed up and ran away, learning to never bother Jeffry, Penelope, Alice, or Payton ever again and would learn to think twice before doing so.

Penelope pet the bunny as she watched the rogue boy run for his dear life, though no one was harming him at all.

Payton petted his frog. Anphi croaked happily. Alice sat back down. Penelope found a disgusting vegetable in her lunch box and gave it to Calpurnia as a reward.

"Thanks, frog." Jeffry smiled at the mutant for helping stand up for him.

"Anphi..." Payton reminded.

Anphi croaked happily.

"Anphi." Jeffry corrected himself.

Calpurnia nibbled at the vegetable like a normal rabbit. Penelope smiled, feeling like a mother.


End file.
